SUMMIT Magazine | Issue 27 | On Mission

RELATIONSHIPS matter. TRUTH matters. WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR LIFE matters. YOU MATTER.

On Mission Personally Participating in God’s Plan of Restoration

Issue 27 • Spring 2017

OUR VISION

To form biblically functioning communities that reach lost people, connect in Christ-centered relationships, teach truth, serve others, and worship God.

A LETTER FROM JOHN

I recently went with a few friends on my annual migration to the Everglades to take on the challenges of Florida’s largest and most difficult wilderness. In previous years, we have gone with the expressed purpose of trying to catch the invasive Burmese Python—which, if you take the media coverage at face value, are so thick in the Everglades that you risk stepping on one with your first step into the swamp. In 2016, after another year of getting skunked, we decided we would keep the title “Python Hunt”, but future trips would be built around taking in the remote and rugged beauty of the landscape rather than purely trying to find pythons.

This year, in the new spirit of the trip, we decided to hike the first (and most difficult) 30 miles of the Florida Trail, which runs along the western edge of the Everglades.

Over this last year, I had become enamoured with the Florida Trail, which covers 1,300 miles from the Everglades to Panama City.

Marked by bright orange blazes, the trail prioritizes taking hikers through many remote and rugged landscapes in our state. Blazes, which are a 2” by 6” vertical strip, help hikers make sure they don’t end up lost in a landscape with nearly endless possibilities to wander off course.

We were certainly grateful for the blazes that guided us through the swamp this last spring. At times, standing knee-deep in water with saw grass and dwarf cypress as far as we could see in any direction, it was only by keeping our focus on the blazes that we could, with confidence, know we would reach our destination—assuming of course that the legendary Skunk Ape (Florida’s version of a sasquatch) would let us pass in peace.

In this issue of the SUMMIT Magazine, we’re exploring the blazes that mark the way forward for our church. These blazes—our mission—keep us on course as individuals and as a community. Without them, we’re merely wanderers. In these pages, you’ll find stories of groups and individuals engaging in God’s mission for his church in unique, surprising, and oftentimes simple ways. You’ll

read about how your personal engagement in God’s mission is a part of his mission for all of us, his church. My hope is that as you navigate these pages you will have a deeper understanding of God’s mission for us in the world as well as a deep sense of anticipation for how you might engage in that mission in the season ahead.

God wants to get something done in the world and he wants us to be a part of it. That idea may be scary or overwhelming to you. It may be exciting or challenging. It is certainly one of the most beautiful consequences of the grace we live in. God’s grace means we’re not relegated to merely wandering while we wait for him to make right all that is broken in our world. Rather, through his grace, and with the promise that he will be with us, we actually get to be used by God to make a difference in this world. We get to be a part of his mission!

Summit’s vision is to build biblically functioning communities that reach lost people, connect in Christ-centered relationships, teach truth, serve others, and worship God. This is the essence of our mission. It is what marks the way forward for us as a church. It is what defines our path. It is what moves us from being wanderers toward a common destination. It is what God is using to get something done in the world through our lives. I am honored to be on this journey with you and look forward to seeing how God will use each of us as we are faithful to follow him into his mission.

THE PARKERS John, Brandy, Mulunesh, Sinkenesh, Archike, Samuel, Abush, and Aschalew

John Parker Lead Pastor

SUMMIT VALUE

Bringing holistic salvation to all that is lost.

CONTENTS

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Geared Toward Kindess The Marinellis are committed to honor Jesus and reflect him to others through their family business.

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A Journey to Deeper Strength When Bryan’s father-in-law gave him a devotional book, he had no idea the series of events that would lead Bryan to actually opening it.

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Cover Photo by: Kimberly Chin

Connect

The Dress Project Casey and Jess traveled to Malawi with their wedding dresses onboard, trusting that God would use them and their stories for the sake of others.

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Introducing New niceSERVE For our 31st niceSERVE, we’re mixing it up with a whole new approach that we can’t wait to share with you.

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Radar

Rethink

The Cost of Serving Teaching Minister Jim Keller loves to pay for service. In a couple of different ways.

Family

Eight is Great The Aquinos were perfectly happy as a family of three, until God started making it clear that they were meant to grow.

The Domino Effect These two students are committed to living lives marked by inviting and serving others.

Etc.

Artist Feature Josh Butler uses his carpentry skills to benefit Summit, pizza places, and his family.

WHO WE ARE Summit Church is one church in multiple locations, living out our vision so that people can know that they matter to God. All of our campuses share the same vision: to form biblically functioning communities that reach lost people, connect in Christ-centered relationships, teach truth, serve others, and worship God. Whether you find yourself unsure about who Jesus is and why that matters, find yourself ready to jump right into community life, or find yourself somewhere in between, you are welcome here.

Locations Summit Herndon 735 Herndon Avenue, Orlando, FL 32803 Service Times: Thursdays, 7 p.m., Sundays, 9 a.m.*, 11 a.m., & 6 p.m. (*ASL interpreters available)

Summit Waterford 11602 Lake Underhill Road, Suite 110, Orlando, FL 32825 Service Times: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 11 a.m.

Summit Lake Mary 100 Technology Park, Suite 110, Lake Mary, FL 32746 Service Times: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 11 a.m.

Summit at 33rd Street Jail Women’s Service Time: Sundays, 1:30 p.m. | Men’s Service Time: Sundays, 1:30 p.m.

(These services are for the Horizon Wing & Female Detention Center inmates at the Orange County Jail.)

Connect With Us Find us on the web: summitconnect.org

Summit Church

@summitchurch

@summitchurch

blog.summitconnect.org

Contact Us Office Hours (Herndon Campus Location): Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Phone: (407) 897-8130 Email: summit@summitconnect.org

Church Staff

LEADERSHIP TEAM Our senior staff members are responsible for leading the church and its ministries according to the pattern in the Scriptures.

Lead Pastor John Parker // jparker@summitconnect.org Worship Pastor Andy Simonds // asimonds@summitconnect.org Organizational Development Pastor Jeff Kern // jkern@summitconnect.org Waterford Campus Pastor Garry Abbott // gabbott@summitconnect.org Administrative Assistant to John Parker Lauren Gaines // lgaines@summitconnect.org Lake Mary Campus Minister O.J. Aldrich // ojaldrich@summitconnect.org Teaching Minister Jim Keller // jkeller@summitconnect.org Teaching Pastor Zach Van Dyke // zvandyke@summitconnect.org

DIRECTORS These folks oversee the departments and staff at Summit, helping to make sure everyone who comes through our doors feels welcomed, informed, and enabled to step into community here.

Family Ministry Director Tracy Beeson // tbeeson@summitconnect.org Herndon Children’s Ministry Director Deanna McLellan // dmclellan@summitconnect.org Waterford Children’s Ministry Director Keely Hardaway // khardaway@summitconnect.org Herndon First Impressions Director Jessica Meyer // jmeyer@summitconnect.org Summit Connect Director Dan Sherfield // dsherfield@summitconnect.org reGROUP Director Kailey Newkirk // knewkirk@summitconnect.org Creative Director Greg Perkins // gperkins@summitconnect.org Worship Director Trey Colson // tcolson@summitconnect.org For a full staff-list, please visit summitconnect.org/staff.

Magazine Staff

Editorial/Art Director Greg Perkins Managing Editor Katie Schmidt Graphic Designer/Photography Manager Laura “L.J.” Judy Editors: Nathan Boyett, Laura Diaz, Will Dickinson, Kari Freeman, Shannon Harmon, Abby Holmes, Allison Hurtado, Jessica Meyer, Ann Miller, MaryEllen Oliver, Virginia Schultz, Ashley Simonds

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Contributing Writers: Garry Abbott, O.J. Aldrich, Nathan Boyett, Lexi Ciulla, Lindsey Coates, Laura Cook, Elizabeth Cronlund, Jenna Dail, Melissa Forbes, Kari Freeman, Allison Hurtado, Jimmy Kaufholz, Jim Keller, Jeff Kern, Jeremy Lukens, Ciru Mutura, John Parker, Reagan Perkins, Harrison Porter, Katie Schmidt, Andy Simonds, Melissa Stillman Contributing Photographers: Ashley Blahnik, Kate Bosse, Kimberly Chin, Mindy Dunlap, Laura Judy, Deborah Kline, Greg Perkins Contributing Designers: Laura Judy, Jeremy Kennedy, Greg Perkins, Beau Wingfield

CONTRIBUTORS

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CONTRIBUTORS

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Kari Freeman | Writer

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Beau Wingfield | Designer

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Deborah Kline | Photographer

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Allison Hurtado | Writer/Editor

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Will Dickinson | Editor

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Harrison Porter | Writer

Kari discovered her love for storytelling in high school through writing and photography classes. She started attending Summit in 2012 and joined staff in 2014 as a coordinator in the communications department.

Throughout her time at Summit, she’s loved the opportunity to witness and help tell more stories. She’s enjoyed sharing perspectives from the Connect group that she leads, her trips to Africa, and time spent serving in Base Camp. Kari also works as a pediatric nurse and, in her free time, enjoys hiking, traveling, spending time with family, and photography.

When Deborah purchased her first DSLR camera to take pictures of her kids, she ended up stumbling upon a creative outlet and side job. She’s been attending Summit for over two years and has been helping out on the magazine team for most of that time (and we’re so grateful for that!). She also serves in Base Camp and is the leader of a Special Needs Moms Connect group.

In addition to being a mom to her two kids, Deborah is a musician, music teacher/vocal coach, Autism/ESE advocate, and freelance photographer.

Will began editing over 15 years ago at Rollins College as a Writing Consultant at the Writing Center. He’s always enjoyed writing and making sure that what the author is trying to say is conveyed. He started coming to Summit almost 11 years ago when a childhood friend invited him. While Will started out as a volunteer in the Resource Center and on the worship team, he’s been involved in a lot of ways around Summit over the years—reGROUP, Summit Connect, as a summer intern—and then eventually joined the staff team in 2010. His current role is Operations Coordinator, so he basically helps to keep Summit up and running. He loves to read, cook, watch college football, and play trivia.

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Between school and career, Beau has been designing for about 10 years. He started drawing at a young age and has been into some form of art since. Beau started attending Summit in 2011, admitting that it was his now-wife Katie that really sold him on planting his flag here. Outside of contributing to the magazine, Beau has been a niceSERVE volunteer, served on First Impressions, and is a proud partner. Apart from art and design, Beau enjoys skateboarding, soccer, cycling, woodworking, and really anything that he can use his hands to make. But, most of his days are filled up spending time with his family—his talented wife, Katie, and their 10-month-old daughter, Scarlett.

Allison became a journalist because she believes in providing news and information to the public and in the importance of telling people’s stories. She and her husband, Josh, have been married four years, and began attending Summit about two years ago. They were looking for a church in their community, and so they checked out Summit and never looked back. Allison loves to cook, is obsessed with Pioneer Woman, has a rescue pup named Ellie who loves to sunbathe, and only barks at two things: church bells and birds (the dog, not Allison).

It was right around those pre-Kindergarten years that Harrison felt an interest in writing which came out of a challenge to be more introspective. Though he finds it challenging, he sees it as a necessary tool for influence. Harrison has been attending Summit for a little over a year and found it shortly after moving back from college (Go Gators). Harrison is an active partner at Summit, serving as a leader in Base Camp and on the First Impressions team. He is a part-time grad student, in addition to working full-time at Orlando Health. And so his hobbies include studying, reading, and mobile orders at Starbucks. He also enjoys people, being outside in his hammock, and Beefy King.

niceSERVE

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niceSERVE participants serving with TCA @ South Street Ministry (left) and GreenUp Orlando (right).

We never set out to do niceSERVE 30 times. But last November that is the milestone we hit. We took part in our 30th church-wide service day together—hundreds of people launched from multiple parts of our city to give three hours toward serving people and a city in need. Together.

GARRY ABBOT T

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“Let’s be a community that is in the habit of serving together; let’s be a church that actively loves God enough that we love our neighbors.”

In the beginning the idea was pretty simple: let’s be a community that is in the habit of serving together; let’s be a church that actively loves God enough that we love our neighbors. Let’s notice the need around us, look for ways to serve others, and invite the people we worship with to join us along the way.

In the early days of Summit all the energy we had went into making church happen. We showed up early and stayed late to set up chairs and stages and children’s classrooms so that we could gather together in worship. But after a few years we realized we had some lost time to make up for when it came to our calling to the needy world around us. One of the best ways to do that is by looking around for ways to serve—to try to make our city look a little more like what God intended when he spun the world into existence and said “it is good.”

done niceSERVE up to this point is not sacred. niceSERVE is about looking around and finding ways to bring hope and help to people in need. It’s about creativity and serving together and living the gospel message that everyone matters because everyone is loved by God. When we began niceSERVE those dozen years ago our congregation totaled around 400 people, so the best way to serve was to all get together on a Saturday morning. As we have grown to over 2,500 people in four different locations, there might be different ways of thinking about how we all serve together.

So, we had this crazy idea. What if we all show up one morning and go serve together? We have continued to do that at least twice a year for the last dozen years. A simple idea repeated again and again, 30 times now. It has added up to 100,000 hours of service in our community. If an average work week is 40 hours, then 48 years of employment hours have been given to hundreds of nonprofits in our city. That is an incredible thing. That is the kind of impact that can be made by a community dedicated to being about what Jesus is about.

Life is busy, schedules are packed, and for some of us, even by our best efforts, we aren’t able to make it out on a specific Saturday morning to participate in niceSERVE. What if there was more opportunity over multiple days at multiple times to be part of niceSERVE?

And if that was the end of the story, I suppose it would be a good story. But, just as God isn’t finished with his world, our story of cultivating lifestyles of service isn’t finished either.

In May of 2017 we will take (or, depending on when you read this, will have taken) a week to serve in lots of different and incredible ways and times. Maybe boxing meals for those in need at Second

As we continue to imagine the possibilities of who and how we serve, we want to be open to the idea that the way we have

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From left to right, niceSERVE participants serving with New Missions, Sole Hope, Children of the Nations, and GreenUp Orlando.

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“niceSERVE is about looking around and finding ways to bring hope and help to people in need.”

niceSERVE STATS

100k

HOURS SERVED

1,700+ PROJECTS

Harvest Food Bank on a Tuesday night with your Connect group will be how you take part in niceSERVE. Maybe stocking shelves at UP Orlando on Friday evening with your children and a few friends will be how you take part in niceSERVE. Maybe hosting a shoemaking project in your home for Summit families on Saturday afternoon to support Sole Hope will be how you take part in niceSERVE. Maybe you and a few friends of yours at Summit will do yard work for your elderly neighbor and that will be how you take part in niceSERVE.

150 NONPROFITS SERVED

The goal is to give everyone the opportunity to take part, and to think creatively about who, when, and where we serve. The way we have done niceSERVE isn’t sacred, but the Scriptures make it clear that serving others is sacred. What if together we were a church that served with great purpose, innovation, and compassion for those we serve? Imagine the impact we could make if we took seriously the call to draw closer to Jesus and those he has entrusted with us to care for. That’s the church I want to be a part of.

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Each summer, we join up with Malawian special needs kids and their caretakers to hold niceSERVE in their own community in Malawi.

niceSERVE has helped Orange County Parks and Recreation launch three parks through a partnership with GreenUp Orlando.

SU M MIT

How we’ll be niceSERVE-ing…

Our Strategy Team members share their hopes, dreams, and plans for niceSERVE 31

John Parker Lead Pastor

Andy Simonds

Many hands make light work. That axiom is at the core of what makes niceSERVE such a success and is particularly true of any project the Parker family shows up for. After all, if nothing else, our family can put our 16 hands to work and get stuff done.

Over the years we have served on all kinds of projects as a family, and although we have benefited from and added value with every project, we find most often that the projects we enjoy the most are the ones that have us outdoors and covered in dirt. Most recently, Brandy took the kids (I was leading another project site) to do work in a local mountain bike park. They did landscaping and maintenance work on bike trails. Other such projects have had us doing landscaping at schools, pulling weeds around lakes, and once our Connect group built our own niceSERVE project designed to clean up some neglected areas around the Herndon Campus.

There are certainly practical reasons for our family preference for outside projects. With six happy, energetic kids, we tend to fill up most interior spaces we occupy. Being outside is more suited to our size and volume. Big outdoor projects also give our kids room to spread out and work with others, which is a big deal for us. On top of those practical considerations, we are drawn to such projects because they are aligned with our family values, our skills, and our passion.

Our values teach us to take responsibility for the community we live in. Whether that means taking out the garbage at home or cleaning a park, we want to be people who leave beauty in our wake rather than chaos.

Our skills… Well, sixteen hands hard at work, I guess that is enough.

Our passion, we relish in the beauty of God’s creation and believe that as followers of Jesus we can be uniquely motivated to care for what God has made and made us to enjoy.

So, in this year’s niceSERVE week of awesomeness, where will you most likely find the 16 Parker hands? You’ll find them in the sun, covered in sweat and dirt, and hopefully making lighter work for whatever team we get to join.

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Worship Pastor

I have little kids, and if I am being completely transparent, on niceSERVE day I often catch myself wishing they were old enough for us to be outdoors doing some kind of manual labor (like the Parkers…). I like getting my hands dirty and being able to look back after a few hours and see a clear movement from before to after.

As I am writing this though, I am struck by the irony of a dad being kind of selfish on a day that is supposed to be about serving others. The people I’m called to serve during those few hours are my kids, because they need to grow into young people who know they were created to value others above themselves, not looking to their own interests, but instead to the interests of others.

This kind of work certainly doesn’t allow you to look back over the morning and see that clear movement from before to after—you are lucky if you get any indication that steps were made toward where you hope you’re headed. At best you have a little conversation about what the day meant on the way home, at worst you are mediating an argument about who gets Cheetos and who gets Doritos with their 4Rivers sandwich and wondering if they have any recollection that they just helped assemble thousands of meals for kids halfway around the world who don’t always have enough to eat. Either way, you have to take the long view to see the importance of setting aside some time on a Saturday morning to think of the interests of others ahead of your own.

When John, Isaac, and I first named niceSERVE, there was a playful nod to the Sunday afternoons we used to spend with our friends on the beach volleyball courts at Secret Lake Park back in high school. Just like in volleyball, how you serve gets better the more reps you put in. I’m glad for all our kids at Summit that they are getting an early start.

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Jeff Kern

Organizational Development Pastor Recently our staff team took a morning to lend a hand to Second Harvest Food Bank. It was a niceSERVE event comprised just of staff, fondly named: staffSERVE. It was a fresh reminder for me on so many levels of the benefits of serving. The most obvious level is that our team made a good contribution to one of our valued partners here in the city. We broke into two teams: one team sorted the contents of shipments of donated goods, while another formed a mini-assembly line to provide boxes of food that were being directly shipped to families on the coast who had been affected

by Hurricane Matthew.

So why do staffSERVE? Doing good for others is reason enough, but it was not only good for them, it was obvious that it was also good for our team. Good for our own souls.

I served on the assembly line for boxing food and was at the end of the line with O.J. Aldrich, stacking the boxes on pallets for final delivery. I could feel the momentum building as word spread that we were on pace for producing the most boxes per hour! It drew our team together and became a fun memorable time of team building and deepening our friendship. Funny how that works—when we focus on serving others, we get close to those we serve alongside.

By noon, we were sweaty and dirty, but collectively we felt a sense of satisfaction knowing we were able to give of ourselves and our time for the sake of others. I can’t fully explain it, but we connect to part of how God has wired us up when we give of our time, our talents, our resources for the sake of others.

And it is deeply satisfying to the soul.

So, as I anticipate this next season of niceSERVE—I am not exactly sure where or how God will lead me and my family to serve.

I am intrigued about seeing something happen down in Lake Nona where we live. No matter how God leads us—I know this—by showing up and serving, we open the door to see God work in the community where we live, to see him deepen our own relationships as a church family, and to see him bring joy and satisfaction to our own hearts.

Garry Abbott Waterford Campus Pastor

Last fall, my wife Abbie and I began to look at how well we knew our neighbors. Neighbor is a term that has very farreaching implications. It could be said anyone I come in contact in with that is in need is my neighbor (Luke 10:25-37). And because no one is fully who they should be or how they should be, because no one is all right all the time, everyone has needs and thus anyone and everyone is my neighbor.

Although that is something I believe deeply to be true, there is a reality that the people that live in houses mere feet from mine, the people whom I pass on my street, and the kids who ride bikes in my neighborhood, are the people I have the greatest opportunity in which to be a neighbor.

So, do I know them? If they were in need, would I know it?

Would I know their story well enough to offer something that is truly helpful?

The answer to those questions (which, admittedly, was no far too often) led me to wanting to know my neighbors better.

And now leads to how we will, as a family, be taking part in this next niceSERVE. We want to use what we have learned in the last few months to be able to serve our neighbors in a way that actually affirms their value and gives them a glimpse of hope.

I don’t know if it will be making banana bread and writing a note for the elderly couple across the street. I don’t know if it will be mowing the yard for the widower two houses down. I don’t know if it will be hosting a neighborhood cookout. Maybe we will get a chance to do all those things and more. But we want to love our neighbors. We want to be the kind of neighbors who notice and listen and act. And I am excited that a week of niceSERVE will allow us to do just that.

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Along the Path

ELIZABETH CRONLUND GREG PERKINS

When believers talk about the mission of God, you may have heard some version of the phrase, “Restoring all that is lost.” Restoration is defined as, “the action of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition.” The owner, place, and condition we, as followers of Christ, seek to return to are: God, Eden, and perfection.

When trying to imagine perfection, we may think of a place where there is no more want or need, but that wasn’t true of Eden. God crafted all of creation with need in mind. He built the garden to provide food and shelter for Adam. He created Eve because Adam needed a partner. He also gave Adam and Eve the job of tending Eden, the garden that sheltered them, because they needed purpose and work. Need is not the difference between good and bad. It is the difference between Creator and creature. Eden was perfect not because need was absent, but because all needs were met.

Looking back at Eden, there are a number of needs that God addresses: physical, relational, and vocational. Not only do we need food and shelter, but community and purpose.

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It was not good for man to be alone and he was not meant to be idle, rather Adam and Eve would be vital parts of the entire system of creation.

When we see these key areas of need shown in the creation of Eden, we discover how to care for those who are suffering. If we only address one area of a person’s need, we limit and define them by that need and miss the full dignity and potential inherent in all of God’s children.

Gaps in need that exist are overwhelming and an organization cannot always meet them alone. This is why Summit seeks relationships with other organizations, so we can help to bridge the gaps that cause suffering. We partner with many great organizations at various levels. But we extend the highest level of relationship and investment for organizations—locally and globally—that understand our desire to walk alongside vulnerable individuals on the often long and difficult path toward health. Our shared vision for the individual is that they will ultimately be fully engaged and productive within community.

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Meet Anna

Summit’s method as we seek to guide vulnerable individuals along has four distinct stages:

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Encounter and Stabilize

Anna grew up just outside of Atlanta and ended up in the foster system as a child. When she aged out, she took the little money she had and moved to Orlando to start fresh. She didn’t know anyone, but felt a need to run away from all the bad memories, thinking she could get a job and figure it out. Her luck never seemed to pan out; for nearly a decade she was stuck in low-wage jobs and bad relationships. One day, while riding The Lynx bus, she saw a flyer for The Jobs Partnership.

The vulnerable individual looking for support (material, emotional, etc.) encounters or is referred to Summit Church or a partner organization. The church or organization assists with stabilizing the person so that they are out of immediate distress. The goal is to make sure the person can obtain material resources regularly to meet their physical needs on their own, or with minimal assistance, and that they are not living in emotional distress.

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Connect to a Safe Community

She began the program, and many barriers that had kept her from a real career were revealed. She shared her story with one of her mentors, a woman from Summit Church named, Sarah, who encouraged Anna to come with her to meet with a Summit staff member. Anna, with Sarah at her side, met with a Community Engagement staff member. They made a plan to reach out to organizations to help with barriers so that Anna wouldn’t have to delay a vocational program she landed through The Jobs Partnership.

Anna was also encouraged to attend reGROUP.

The next stage of care is within the context of a small safe group.

This can be a safe house or a program with group structure. This is to address the second need: relationship. Long-term material or relational poverty can bring painful isolation. It is life-giving to have a safe place to return to the practice of relationship without fear of rejection, and with a group of people who share a common goal.

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Develop in Community

reGROUP was the first time Anna was really able to talk about the abuse she endured as a child and the anxiety she carried as a result. During the year she was in the reGROUP process, she continued working with Community Engagement and meeting with Sarah as she progressed. She also started attending Summit worship services and making friends. The isolation and anxiety she had felt since the day she was taken from her home as a child was losing its hold on her.

The third stage is introduction to a larger community. This environment allows the person to experience many different types of relationships and see how each person contributes to the overall health of the community. Here they learn how people translate their time, talent, and resources into purpose.

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Reinvestment

With community surrounding her (including Sarah), Anna grew in confidence. She landed a good job and really wanted to start giving back, like all the people who had poured into her over the three years since she saw that Lynx flyer. When Summit did the Sponsor, Foster, Adopt series in 2015, she reached out to a local organization that assists foster youth and families. She began mentoring young women in foster care six months later.

The final stage is reinvestment. Once a person’s physical and relational needs are stable, they are no longer isolated by overwhelming circumstances and are benefiting from participating in community. They can then invest into the care of their families and community through work and service. Thus they contribute into this system of care for others who may be vulnerable and suffering.

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We partner with many organizations that approach the important work they do with this same intentionality. This is not by accident—we take seriously the call to be a part of God-honoring work that equips someone to move from a state of need to a state of self-sufficiency. Meet Pablo, Biruk, Jay, and Memory and the organizations that came alongside them.

Biruk

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Biruk’s father left his family unexpectedly. In the midst of the despair, his mother was unable to provide fully for his family. Living among millions in the capital city of Ethiopia, the high costs of living didn’t allow them to survive long without some kind of immediate assistance. Biruk knew of a CarePoint of Children’s HopeChest near the slum where they lived and went to seek help.

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Biruk was matched with a sponsor, allowing his family to maintain good health by receiving access to clean water, support for schooling, and high-protein foods to help a family member with HIV. Biruk’s mom was also introduced to this CarePoint’s Women’s Empowerment Program where she found a safe place to share her story, process trauma, learn a vocational skill, and learn what it means to walk with Jesus.

Pablo

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Pablo was connected to UP Orlando through the Orlando Union Rescue Mission, a homeless service provider in downtown Orlando. He sought out the Rescue Mission Discipleship Program when he came to the realization that he needed shelter and a safe community.

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After school, Biruk was able to spend time with loving adults and peers at the CarePoint, which allowed his mom to pursue avenues of support. As Biruk’s mother engaged with the CarePoint, she met other women in similar situations to hers and found encouragement.

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After completing two years with the Discipleship Program, Pablo was recommended to the Success Training Employment Program (STEP) at UP Orlando. Through this program, a strong community was formed around Pablo and he began to share a lot of his personal stories, struggles, and successes with his new community; all of this occurred while he and the others were working to develop their employment skills.

Over time, Biruk’s mother was able to confidently apply for jobs and become a barista at a coffee shop near home. Her newfound emotional and vocational stability allows her family to no longer need Biruk’s sponsorship. The family continues to stay in relationship with the CarePoint and spends time supporting other women and children who are in a similar position.

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After graduating STEP, Pablo engaged in volunteerism in the Member Share Grocery Program at UP Orlando. This is a dignified food and household assistance program where clients can personally select the nutritious food items their family needs. This was an excellent way for Pablo to start gaining on-the-job training and to start giving back to the Orlando community.

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Now, Pablo is working full-time in product shipment. He is an active and engaged member of our larger community.

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Encounter & Stabilize Connect to a Safe Group

Memory

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Develop in Community

Memory had always dreamed of going to a university after secondary school, even though her family’s income from the maize harvest was barely enough to provide food and schooling fees for their family. She eventually learned about a savings and loan program happening at a church in her village, which had been started by World Relief Malawi.

Reinvestment

Jay

02

The church extended an invitation for Memory to join their group.

Here she found other women with similar dreams and started to contribute small sums of her own money to a communal “pot.”

In addition to the savings, she developed friendships with these women and they supported one another in their walks with Jesus.

It wasn’t long before the group savings afforded her the chance to take out her first loan.

01

Jay grew up in a very broken family. Through suffering extreme abuse throughout his entire childhood, by the time Jay was a teenager, he was headed down a path of self-destruction.

He was connected with Young Life, a non-denominational Christian ministry that reaches out to adolescents.

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This money served as the initial start-up capital she needed to start a small business selling mandazi (fried doughnuts) on the roadside in the mornings. As people began to develop relationships with her, her business grew as her regulars sought her out for their morning breakfast. She proudly reported these stories back to her savings and loan group and was able to pay back her loan on time with some left over to support her family.

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Through volunteers, staff, club meetings, and camps, Young Life builds meaningful relationships. Jay’s leader pursued him and allowed him to feel known and loved by God in a way he had never understood before. In 2015, Jay committed his life to Jesus at a Young Life camp.

He then quickly got plugged into a small group (called Campaigners).

04

As she continued in community with her savings and loan group, Memory’s business grew and she began to sell other food items as well. Using extra income, she has now added to her family’s efforts in replacing their thatch roof. She’s even started to put money away toward school fees for attending university—a dream that no longer seems so unlikely. Memory’s story is an encouragement to others in her village and she’s able to inspire others.

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Through the leaders and students he knows through Campaigners, Jay is growing in his faith every week. He has also become the biggest advocate/champion for Young Life at his school.

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He has made it his mission that every kid in his school have the opportunity to hear the gospel message and the chance for a different kind of life than the one he was living before he was following Jesus.

Need creates a space where a community can flourish through sharing and receiving.

The sin, shame, and suffering that entered the world at the Fall would make us believe otherwise, but the injustice that has grown in the space in which God was always meant to be glorified will not go unanswered. That space is where we have an opportunity to tackle the shame and suffering that was

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never in God’s perfect plan. If we step into that space with a goal to know and love people, not just fix problems, we have an opportunity to build people upon the foundation of their dignity.

The days of sin and shame are numbered and we’ve been invited to join in the story of that victory.

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Fighting One War Two Worlds Apart

Lindsey Coates

33rd Street Ministry Coordinator Summit Church

One Lamb is an organization started by Ciru that works with boys and girls in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, rescuing those who have been trafficked or are very vulnerable to trafficking. In her role as Summit’s 33rd Street Ministry Coordinator, Lindsey works with women over 18 who

Ciru Mutura

have been trafficked and incarcerated in Orlando. Though these women work a little under 8,000 miles away from

Founder One Lamb onelamb.org

each other, they have locked arms and spur each other on as they seek to restore dignity and wholeness to those who have experienced human trafficking.

What does this work look like for you?

What are some of the cultural implications of human trafficking where you are?

Lindsey: When working in the jail, I am on the front lines of what is happening in the world of human and drug trafficking, either with victims or perpetrators. Many people don’t realize that women sometimes become traffickers in order to survive. Street mentality is fueled by poverty mentality, which is survival mode in its most gruesome state. When a woman is released from jail, many times a guard ushers her out the door and she is responsible for finding her own ride, place to stay, and job. In a time of desperation, we all return to what we know works, so if a pimp, drug dealer, or abusive family member is waiting and offering a room for the week and a wad of cash, any of us would be tempted to take it if we aren’t aware other resources or options exist.

Lindsey: Human trafficking (forced sexual behavior or any form of forced labor) is all around us. You have probably sat next to a perpetrator or victim without even realizing it. Trafficking is sort of a trendy social issue in the United States right now. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes people are so focused on awareness that they forget that action is required in order to motivate necessary change.

Ciru: The unthinkable cruelty of prostitution of children has gone on unnoticed for decades in Kenya and in most countries around the globe. In Kenya we see trafficked girls sharing the common thread of broken families. It is incredible to see how the absence of a strong, responsible good father opens the home, and especially the children, to all kinds of evils—stepfathers that rape and abuse them, struggling mothers that resort to prostitution, crime, drugs, trafficking... the list continues.

Ciru: In order to identify girls that are being trafficked in the particular slum we work in, we use a non-threatening approach by running two programs at a school in the slum. The girls we rescue get to attend boarding schools—safe places where they can receive a good education. Education is a great way to break out of poverty and out of exploitation. We also disciple the girls and provide them with restorative care (counseling, therapy, play) all at our HEART Home located in a peaceful suburb of Nairobi. It is amazing to see the transformation the girls experience after some time in the program. They get a chance to be children again and enjoy God’s goodness in their lives.

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What was it like for you when you started out?

Lindsey: I will, embarrassingly, admit that I spent the first 18 months or so at our 33rd Street Women’s Campus thinking I knew what the women there needed. I had no concept of what it meant to go in and listen and learn, to decode the culture to which we were ministering, and to hear what they needed in a church campus. As

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I had the chance to get to know these women and their stories, I realized that having a church campus in jail is far more complicated than just taking a service to jail once or twice a week.

Ciru: Before starting out in the slums, I thought I would just go in, rescue the girls that were being exploited, and bring them to a home where we would care for them in a safe and loving environment.

Being on the ground was a very different story. The girls being exploited were not in plain sight, and no one would tell me who they were, mostly because I was clearly an outsider; I hadn’t grown up in the slums, so even though we were citizens of the same country and spoke the same language, we were from completely different cultures. I had to change my whole approach if I was to be effective in rescuing the girls.

I know you two met in the fall of 2016 in preparation for a conference. What was it like having Ciru visit Samaritan Village in her time here?

Lindsey: When she was in Orlando, Ciru was able to visit Samaritan Village, a local Christ-centered program for women transitioning from sexual exploitation to healing and wholeness, to spend time with the residents there. I was living at Samaritan Village as a house mom at the time, and had the chance to hear the ladies talk about their experience meeting Ciru.

The residents’ hearts were so tender and open to what the children in Nairobi are facing; they immediately wanted to go help out! What struck me was that a group of women in recovery for their own trauma immediately felt compassion for others and wanted to serve.

it is happening in all of our neighborhoods, right under our noses.

So what are we going to do about it?

Ciru: It was wonderful meeting Lindsey and getting to hear her experiences with the ladies. Her passion was instantly evident and I sensed a familiar protective spirit that comes from caring for those who have been exploited. The work we do exposes us to the worst of humanity but also, by God’s grace, we get to connect with the best people—those pure in heart, totally devoted to serving God wherever he sends them.

What are some practical ways people can help?

Lindsey: Local anti-trafficking organizations like Samaritan Village are always in need of volunteers and support. You can donate clothes to Transitions Resale Boutique and provide affordable clothing options for women who can’t afford to run into Macy’s and purchase an interview outfit. You can shop at Transitions, where the profits directly benefit women who are leaving the world of trafficking. You can pray for the 33rd Street team and leaders. You can pray for our judges, public defenders, department of corrections, and inmates.

“What I found in Ciru was an immediate friend and

ally in the war not against any industry or person,

but for people’s hearts and dignity.” —Lindsey

Ciru: I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, so the warmth and genuine concern I received from the ladies was pleasantly overwhelming. At first they asked questions about my world on the other side of the globe and about the girls I work with. An interesting shift took place when they learned that I had been divorced, that besides having womanhood in common, my life out there hadn’t been all perfect but was scarred with the common bond of ultimate betrayal. The point of shared heartbreak seemed to push aside some barriers and the ladies leaned in closer, enthusiastically pouring out advice for One Lamb.

What did you both learn from each other during your time together?

Lindsey: What I found in Ciru was an immediate friend and ally in the war not against any industry or person, but for people’s hearts and dignity. As Ciru and I began to share stories we came to realize we are very similar. Once we identified our shared passions and interests, the conversations turned to more practical topics. We know human trafficking does not discriminate against age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or geographic location. We know

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Ciru: We welcome volunteers to come on short-term mission trips to Kenya to interact with our children in activities like arts and crafts, vacation Bible school, games, reading, and good old fun. We invite partners to come alongside us and help educate our girls and support our programs through monthly donations. We encourage friends to get together and collect items such as school backpacks, stickers, and craft supplies and send them with someone traveling to Kenya. Pray with us and for us and keep on praying. Prayer is crucial in this vicious war we are fighting.

Anything else?

Lindsey: Both Ciru and I have been given a specific sphere of influence—a place and time in history where the Lord has said, “Do my work here.” But so has each and every one of God’s people! You and I don’t have to be on a church-sanctioned trip or in a foreign land to do God’s work and love God’s people. Men and women, boys and girls, the old and the young, the wealthy and the poor, are in need of God’s love and your heart in every corner of the world. It takes every heart, hand, foot, and mind of Christ to fight for those who God has said are worthy of love and dignity. So let’s get to it!

Ciru: Jesus himself said that poverty would always be with us. So what does that mean for us now? Are we working in vain? Not at all. Every life we impact by sharing the gospel and genuine love, is one more life with an opportunity to spend eternity in heaven.

As heartbreaking as the work is and as draining the process, it is where my faith has grown the most, where my understanding of God’s goodness has been challenged and greatly deepened, and where my heart has been touched and forever transformed.

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A Lifelong Calling

Angela remembers it clearly: sitting in elementary school about 25 years ago, listening to her teacher share about China and its child welfare situation. Until just last year, China had a one-child policy and Angela’s young eyes were suddenly opened to a real need: so many children who were being abandoned and left for the government to raise. “It left an impression on my heart,” she says.

“The Holy Spirit just tugged on my heart saying you’re going to go do something about that.”

The impression never left. Throughout her childhood in Central Florida, Angela read about people who had served in China and she always chose that country for school projects. Her passion for China was so obvious that her high school superintendent suggested she go serve in China for a few weeks when she graduated—to get confirmation that this was what God really wanted her to do with her life.

She took his advice and describes the experience as an affirming one. “I remember when we were leaving

Angela Knapp’s years of faithfulness to serve China led her to her next big step.

LAURA COOK

ASHLEY BLAHNIK

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[China],” she explains, “feeling like I’m going to be back, this is my home.”

Angela says. “Since I did several trips before I moved there, I didn’t have a lot of culture shock because God had prepared me for so long.”

Eight years later, after college and earning a master’s degree in social work, Angela applied to work with International China Concern, an organization serving in China. Her role? A Social Work Consultant at one of China’s Welfare Centers (orphanages). The children who are most often abandoned in China are those with a medical need or disability, possibly because China doesn’t have adequate social systems in place to help support families in these circumstances. Angela worked alongside special education consultants and physical therapists to train local government employees on how to care for these children well. “For me, it was the realization of a 20-year calling and I loved it because it was such a build-up over time,”

Angela spent the next five years serving in this role. She trained local social workers on how to create admission processes, track a child’s need, and how to prepare children for international adoption. In her off hours, she worked for a couple of adoption agencies doing home visits for American families who were adopting Chinese children.

“Adoption had already been on my heart and was one of the reasons I pursued social work as a career, because I’m passionate about child welfare in general and orphans,” Angela says. “But I really believe that children belong in families as much as humanly possible. I feel like that should be the end goal.”

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With that in mind, Angela began to wonder when God would bring her to that part of her story. The more home visits she did to help other families, she couldn’t help but wonder when it would be her turn. But she loved helping families with the adoption process and recognized she wouldn’t be able to do it with a child of her own. She continued to trust God’s timing. “You have to be age 30 to adopt from China and I was approaching my thirtieth birthday,” Angela says.

“I was like ‘OK, God, I didn’t necessarily picture it as being single.’” But with a supportive family back home in the U.S. and a peace from God, Angela says, “He finally said, ‘Yes, start the steps for it.’”

“I think living out a calling should be a constant thing, a constant re-giving it to God. ‘Where

Angela didn’t have a particular child in mind and, like everyone else adopting a child from China, she waited to be matched by the agency. But God had different plans— her son was there all along at the orphanage where she was working. “I kind of feel like he chose me because he

do you want me to go now?’”

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would always smile at me and reach out to me,” she says.

It worked out that their paperwork got finished at the same time. The new mom and son were matched and Angela was delighted. “It’s really special since we have known each other since he came in at about two-and-a-half months old,” she says. “He was 16 months when the adoption was finalized and we became a family.”

About six weeks later, Angela and her little son, Timothy, were back in America on furlough (it had been five years of serving without an extended break) for Timothy’s medical checks, and to finalize his American citizenship. Not only did Angela have to re-acclimate to American culture, but now she was suddenly a mother. Her plan was to be in Orlando for about nine months before heading back to life in China. But after discovering that Timothy needed more medical attention than she originally thought, it seems that God has them here for the present—however long that may be. She got a job working with local Central Florida adoptions and is settling back into Orlando.

One lesson she’s learning through it all? “God can give you a call but that doesn’t mean that the call won’t change,” Angela says, sharing that she still gets homesick for China.

“I have to constantly surrender and be open to what he wants me to do. I don’t want to be stuck on the call he gave me 20 years ago if it’s different now. I think living out a calling should be a constant thing, a constant re-giving it to God. ‘Where do you want me to go now? What do you want me to do now?’ Because you want to be in the center of his will.”

God has made it clear that being a mom is right where he wants her. “I’ve had to constantly refocus that and that is something I thought about before I decided to pursue adoption,” Angela says. “Even talking to people as I was going through it, they told me your focus is going to shift because you won’t have the time to give to all of these other things.”

And so, for now, Angela’s childhood-calling to serve children in China has brought her here to serve just one: her son named Timothy whom God has chosen for her to raise and love. And though it might be a stark difference to the life she was living just a year ago in China, she welcomes the change. “I felt like God wasn’t going to tell me the next step [after furlough] because he just wanted me to rest and if I knew, then I would start planning,” Angela laughs. “He was giving me this wonderful rest.

And just time with Timothy, time to be a mom.”

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A Journey to Deeper Strength GREG PERKINS

JIMMY KAUFHOLZ

If you look at Bryan DiNunzio’s foot, you’ll see a tattoo of a verse from the book of Isaiah. That same verse appears in a book that sat on a shelf in Bryan’s home for a year or two before he ever considered having these words permanently etched on his body. The book was given to him by his father-in-law and, quite frankly, Bryan had never intended to read it.

Growing up, Bryan heard a lot about fear and judgement at church, but not a lot about love. Eventually his parents let him choose whether or not he wanted to continue attending with them and he chose not to.

Over the years, his rational and analytical personality drove him to try to understand religion, but God wasn’t something he could touch or measure.

Bryan’s wife, Kaylee, grew up going to church regularly. Kaylee had been attending Summit for quite a while when she and Bryan started dating. Wanting to invest in what was important to her, Bryan started joining Kaylee at Summit’s Lake Mary Campus. Despite the change in how he spent Sunday mornings, Bryan didn’t automatically experience a change of heart. He still felt distant from God, finding himself analyzing the teachings and rationalizing circumstances that would otherwise have pointed to God. But then, over the course of a few weeks in the early months of 2016, Bryan began walking into church with a more open heart. One April morning, Bryan now recounts, tears began streaming down his face almost as soon as the band began playing. The service was part of the Of the Vine series, which covered the fruit of the

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Spirit in Galatians 5. The sermon and the songs that day illustrated God’s peace and for the very first time, Bryan found himself truly, and intensely, experiencing that peace.

Following the benediction that day, Bryan remained in his seat, processing what it was that he was feeling.

At the time, Kaylee attributed his reaction to the overwhelming stress their family was going through.

Bryan’s oldest daughter, Coral, was recovering from a traumatic hand injury that still had a very real possibility of leaving her without one of her fingers. It had been an incredibly difficult time for the family emotionally, yet that day after service Kaylee noticed a new calmness to Bryan.

After they got home, Bryan was drawn to that book on the shelf—the book he hadn’t thought of in over a year.

“The book is very Bryan.” Kaylee says. “It’s combat boots, dog tags, and a Bible.” Perfect for Bryan, a former marine, firefighter, and loving father of two daughters. Though Bryan hadn’t seen much of a need for a devotional book at the time it was given to him, Kaylee and her father had been praying that one day he would.

And that day had come.

Bryan read the entire first week of devotionals that night, which included an encouragement to go for a prayer walk.

“It was almost bedtime and we were getting the girls ready for their baths,” Bryan starts. “And I’m getting this urge again—you gotta go for that walk right now. I run to Kaylee and just say, ‘Hey, it’s nothing bad, but I gotta go.’”

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Later that night (really, early the next morning), Bryan emailed Lake Mary Campus Minister O.J. Aldrich and Teaching Pastor Zach Van Dyke to describe the impact of that walk:

“It was about 8 p.m. and heavy thunderstorms had just rolled through so I was met with rosy red light when I opened the door. Steam was rising from the streets and as I walked out of my neighborhood I saw the most beautiful sky with beautiful red clouds and streams of sun pushing through. I turned and looked in the other direction and saw the dark thunder clouds laced with lightning. Both were equally astounding and I finally noticed the awesomeness of God’s creation. I have said many prayers before, but I feel that this was the first time I truly prayed. Again, I was focused, not afraid, not analyzing, and uninhibited.”

Bryan returned from his walk feeling the same sense of peace that had been present at church that morning. He walked up to say goodnight to Coral and told her that he had a calmness about the situation with her hand and that, whatever happened, they would get through it together. Bryan hadn’t made it all the way downstairs before Coral called him back up. She asked if they could pray together as a family—something she had never asked to do, something they had never done before, and something they have not stopped doing together since.

Bryan now leads a Bible study for a group of fellow firefighters on Saturday mornings and Kaylee has certainly seen an effect on the daily happenings of their home—now describing it as a place full of hope and joy. And of course Bryan’s daughters have noticed a change as well. “Bryan has always been an amazing dad—sweet and loving and tucks them in every night,” Kaylee says. “But there are things that he’s teaching them now and they see his example and they follow that. They trust him and they believe him, and so because this is something he now trusts and believes, they’ve started exploring faith too.”

Anyone who has met Bryan would likely describe him as strong.

Now, his strength is deeper; the words from Isaiah on Bryan’s ankle are a constant reminder of where his strength and unending peace come from.

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” —Isaiah 40:31 SU M MIT

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the

color

blue JENNA DAIL MINDY DUNLAP

The relentless shaking that spread across my body woke me from what felt like a nightmare. I blinked my eyes to make sense of the room that surrounded me but I couldn’t focus.

My body was shivering, ice cold, and I knew something was wrong. I looked to my left and realized my OB-GYN was speaking to my husband and me. In and out her words faded, and I was scared. My heart raced and I began to plead with my husband, Nick, and God to not let me die.

I knew I was on the verge of death but I wasn’t ready to go. My two children at home still needed their mom, and truthfully, I still needed them. “You lost a lot of blood,” she said as she placed what seemed like a blow-up mattress across my body to bring my temperature to a normal level.

I turned to my husband and requested a few of my favorite songs to help calm my nerves and remove the fears that swallowed me whole. My racing heart began to calm. “I bathed the boys and dressed them so you can hold them,” my nurse said as she entered from the hallway, and then it all came back clear as day.

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Oh yes, that’s why I’m here. It wasn’t a nightmare but in fact real life. The worst moment in my life. September 19, 2014, the day I was five months pregnant and went into preterm labor and lost our identical twins, Grady and Ryder. I closed my eyes, listened to the song playing, and allowed God to pour his truth into my soul as I prepared my heart to say my final goodbyes.

“You’ve never failed and you won’t start now.”

There was a time in our culture when women were essentially told that when her infant passed away, their story died along with them. Infant loss, miscarriages, stillbirths were all topics that were brushed under the rug and a woman was expected to carry on with her life, bravely and unbroken. Months after our boys passed I felt that pressure placed upon me. “Mom isn’t allowed to cry,” I told myself. “Keep it together,” I imagined the world saying to me. I stuffed the grief and wore a smile as though it never happened, as if they were never born.

A few months following our loss, I found myself driving on I-4, and I lost all control emotionally. I couldn’t stuff the pain I was feeling or pretend I wasn’t a mom of four any longer. I found myself screaming at God asking why my children had to die and why I was carrying this heavy heartache. He spoke very clearly in that moment. “Your boys are mine and were born for a much bigger purpose than the eye can see. I gave them to you because I knew you’d fight to carry on their story, you’d fight for their purpose. Shed the weight, share your heart, and be the mother of four I designed you to be,” and in that moment it all became so clear.

One in four women will or have experienced this same heartbreak. Some will be placed on a grueling bed rest, as I was prior to our delivery, to fight for their unborn baby, and some will drive to the hospital glowing with joy and leave with empty arms. One in four women. My Grady and Ryder were born with a purpose much larger than I could plan for.

It hurts to live this life without them and missing them shatters me to my core, but I know deep down God is still good and his plans are far better than mine.

There’s one in four women who need my story to remind them they’re not alone in their pain. There’s a woman on bed rest ready to give up, and sharing a glimpse of God’s hope with her might just help her fight another day.

While I considered driving off the road in those dark moments on I-4, God showed me another path and it began with the song “Oceans” and the color blue.

“I see a community of women who do not want to brush their story under the rug and rather embrace the brave within the broken because they have a Savior who’s not ready to give up on them.”

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When I see blue I see hope, and I see Grady and Ryder. I see the moment God saved my life that warm September morning. I see a community of women who do not want to brush their story under the rug and rather embrace the brave within the broken because they have a Savior who’s not ready to give up on them. I see a nonprofit that can grow and bless others. I see The Color Blue and Hope coming to life. I see a Box of Hope, a Box of Love, and a Box of Joy that will provide encouragement within the fight for their unborn baby, a hug and prayer for each mother who has experienced loss and a reminder that her baby matters even in the years following their passing.

I see Boxes of Hope full of toiletries that will remind a mother on bed rest she is cared for, notecards to keep her busy, and devotionals to keep her heart full. I see Boxes of Love full of journals to help guide the mother full of grief to share her story—because it matters—Kava Tea to slow her racing heart, and a baby blanket to remind her that God’s comfort will never leave. I see Boxes of Joy full of pink and blue banners to be hung, spelling out her baby’s name, candles to be blown out and balloons to be released in hopes of celebrating a life

The Dail family packaging Boxes of Love, Hope, and Joy, that have been purchased through The Color Blue and Hope, to be sent to families.

that matters so much in the years following their loss. I see a gift given from a sister who doesn’t know what to say or from a grieving almost-grandmother whose heart shatters as her daughter says goodbye to her baby, or even from a friend who too has walked the hard road of a high-risk pregnancy or infant loss and knows her pain all too well and wants to remind her that she’s not alone. I see the gift of redemption and grace that the Lord promises us all. I see the blessing of being a mother of four even though I only have two here to hold. I see a purpose that I’m not willing to give up on. I see hope.

Swaddled in their green and blue blankets, I brushed their foreheads and pressed my lips against their skin.

I examined their bodies, taking mental pictures so I wouldn’t forget a single detail. I placed them against my chest for the final time and embraced their warmth.

“Mommy loves you so much,” I said. I wiped my tears and called our nurse to hand them over one last time.

Some would say Grady and Ryder’s story ended there in that cold hospital room, but I can argue it had only just begun.

The Dress Project

There is power in a story. Sitting at a lopsided table that wobbles furiously with every frantic stroke of my pen— threatening to turn the $2 cup of coffee that sits upon the table into a casualty of this interview—Casey Phillips tells me hers.

Christmas Day, 2010. White, sterile. White tissues, white machines, white coats. Not the kind of White Christmas Bing Crosby sang about, and not the kind of Christmas anyone hopes for. On this Christmas morning, three people were given the gift of life through organ donation, while Casey Phillips lost her husband.

Casey met Michael in 4th grade. “But we weren’t really friends then,” she explained, which should come as little surprise to anyone who knows a 4th grader. By the time their paths crossed again, they were in high school, and the debilitating fear of cooties had been replaced by something else—a longing for connection. The two became good friends—the best of them—and by their junior year they had entered into a romantic relationship that would span the rest of their high school and college careers and beyond.

In 2009, Casey and Michael were wed. It was a fairytale of a day. Her full-skirted dress dazzled, the light dancing off of it, making it seem as if it had taken on a life of its own.

Two women step into healing by sharing their stories—and their wedding dresses LEXI CIULLA

LAURA JUDY

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A year later, Casey found herself in a hospital room, hearing the news that the brain damage her husband had suffered as a result of a car accident a few days earlier was irreversible, and that he would not be waking up.

In the wake of Michael’s tragic death, Casey moved from her Cape Coral home to Orlando to be closer to family and for a much-needed change of scenery.

Through her brother, she was introduced to Summit and a ton of new friends who were curious about her story—where she came from, why she moved, etc.

It is no secret that at times our stories can feel like a burden that we do not want to unload on others.

This was a story she was not quite ready to tell.

One day, while sitting in service at Summit, Casey saw a video about a trip to Africa. She had heard about these trips from her brother, who had gone to Malawi in 2010. In 2013, Casey decided she wanted to go. So she did.

This trip was the first time Casey felt comfortable sharing her story, surrounded by Malawian women who she sensed could understand her loss. She felt released from the judgement and shame and guilt that had plagued her at home. Interestingly enough, the Malawian women seemed grateful that she had shared, an experience which had a profound impact on Casey.

Malawi was not just the place where Casey first gained the freedom to tell her story; it is also where she began adding to it.

It is in Malawi that Casey first heard about The Dress Project, a nonprofit that collects bridal and formal dresses and resells them out of a high-school gym in Malawi. The proceeds then go on to provide educational opportunities to young girls in Africa. If you’re looking for a good reminder of what redemption looks like, The Dress Project offers a pretty literal approach to concept. They give dresses a second story, and in the process, they kind of give the donor one, too.

That first trip to Malawi would not be Casey’s last. She would soon return with her wedding dress, ready to give it a second story and to move to the next chapter of hers.

Hanging on a rack in that Malawian high school somewhere near Casey’s, Jess Browning’s wedding dress was also displayed, a dress with a unique story of its own.

When she was young, Jess’ parents got divorced and… long, challenging story short, she ended up living with her grandparents. As she grew up, she and her grandfather developed a strong bond.

“He was awkward, I’m awkward,” she explains with a sheepish grin and a roll of the eyes. He was the strong father-figure in her life, the one who had been there through everything. To her, it always made sense that he would be the one who walked her down the aisle when her time came.

But “her time” was always a distant thing, something far off and abstract. Jess never envisioned being married young. Even

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though she met her now-husband Keith in middle school and started dating him shortly after, she was always firm about wanting to wait until she was at least 25 before getting married.

All of that changed when Jess’ grandfather was diagnosed with a terminal lung disease. At only 20 years old, Jess’ timeline was pushed up a bit—she wanted her grandfather to walk her down the aisle, and she wanted him to be able to do it without needing an oxygen mask.

In March of 2013, Jess donned a beautiful white dress and was given away by her grandfather in an intimate ceremony. About a year later, her grandfather passed away. In July of 2016, Jess went to Malawi—on the very same trip that Casey Phillips was on—and she, like Casey, brought her wedding dress with her.

For both women, the process of giving away a dress that had so much emotion and memory attached to it was a difficult one, but one that actually wound up offering a lot of closure and room to move forward.

“I’ve realized I’m not supposed to hide my story,” Casey shares.

“I just have to pray for my future and trust God.” A second chance isn’t a new story—it is a continuation, building upon the story that preceded it. When a dress gets passed on to a new owner, its past doesn’t get wiped away. The dress gets new life, but the memories of where it came from are still woven into its fabric.

Isn’t that how redemption works, too? What has been lost can never really be replaced, and it won’t be forgotten, either.

But true growth and redemption comes not from forgetting the past, but from building upon it. While Casey and Jess may never meet the Malawian women who purchased their dresses and gave them new life, they’ve been irrevocably interwoven; forever connected by a beautiful piece of fabric, a redemptive story, a loving Savior. And that, my friends, is pretty neat.

Both Casey and Jess’ wedding dresses hanging side-by-side in Malawi.

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Geared Toward Kindness A couple’s determination to live missionally, one customer at a time MELISSA FORBES

LAURA JUDY

My husband and I talk a lot about how to be in ministry even though we don’t work in ministry. I spend my weekdays in the public school system, so talking about my faith at work isn’t an option. And my sweet husband manages large scale construction projects. He prays for his co-workers daily— sometimes out loud with them in his office— but he feels far removed from the work of righting injustices, feeding hungry folks, or caring for widows and orphans.

So I was curious to meet Andrew and Bethany Marinelli. They own Marinelli Auto Service, a business dedicated to honesty, fairness, and kindness (not words often connected to the automotive repair industry).

I heard they were committed to being on mission in their work, so I drove out to their shop long after dark one evening to ask how they pull that off.

Bethany, who is expecting their first child, propped her feet up on her desk, her ankles

swollen with late pregnancy. Andrew sat across from her, often rubbing his tired eyes.

It was clear to me that they’d thought about my questions for years, that they thought through and answered them long before their first customer walked into their shop.

I love how Andrew puts it: “It comes down to this: I believe in Jesus. My view is that God should reign over every area of our lives, including our minutes and hours at work.

Every person I treat honestly, every person I care for … I do it to honor him.”

This intentionality radically governs how they conduct their business. They are careful, they explain, to make sure every customer feels well-cared for. Most of their guests are surprised at the length of time Andrew and Bethany spend with them, either in their office or talking by phone. Remembering when she was younger and single and her own car needed repair, Bethany says, “The mechanic would talk to me, and it would

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all go right over my head.” So she’d call her dad and ask the mechanic to tell him what was happening.

That is not the experience she wants for their customers. Bethany explains, “I want people to be able to make their own decisions about their car and to feel good about those decisions.” For her, it’s all about empowering their customers. And that takes time and patience.

Bethany says, “In a nutshell, we serve God by helping people to be good stewards of their vehicles. So we spend a lot of time educating people about their car or truck, what the actual condition is, and what they need to invest in it to keep it running.”

Andrew also carefully considers his customers’ budget. He tells me there is often more than one way to fix a car. One way might involve more labor (which means more profit for his business), while another could entail more parts, which might mean

“That’s part of what we do here. To care for and about every person. We do that because that’s what we’re called to.”

less profit for him. Ensuring that the car is fixed in a way that best meets the needs of the car and the customer is key for him.

He says, “That’s part of what we do here.

To care for and about every person. We do that because that’s what we’re called to.”

Andrew’s hope is that God would work in his customers’ hearts when he honors their time and budget, when he puts their needs above his own.

When I asked them to describe their dreams for their business, I was surprised at their answers. I imagined they’d tell me about a future with more bays and a full schedule board. Nope. With the exhaustion of a demanding business written all over his face, Andrew says quietly, “I want to be

home with my family in the evenings. And I want to be able to give more money to ministries.” Bethany talks about transitioning from full-time work in their shop to focusing on marketing and her Mechanic’s Wife blog, so she can be at home with their children and minister to other families.

As I talked with Andrew and Bethany, I thought of the idea that we are called to live out the gospel, that our actions testify to God’s love more profoundly than do our words (1 John 3:18). The Marinellis embody that ideal, even though I wonder if they know that fully.

I told my husband about the Marinellis. I shared about their ache to honor God in their work. I told him about their little unborn

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boy, about their dreams for their business, about the tan car up on the lift, and about how they, too, think about how their work contributes to God’s Kingdom.

“It’s obvious to me how they are on mission,” I tell my husband, “but I don’t know if it’s obvious for them. I mean, they work really hard at it, but I’m not sure they see how loving people well is exactly what Jesus told us to do.”

And this realization led me to another: encouraging each other in our ministries, whether those ministries are vocational or not, is important. Perhaps cheering on the missional work of our fellow Christ-followers is mission in and of itself.

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It started with Summit Connect Director Dan Sherfield dropping the address of a niceSERVE project on a map and matching it with a map of Connect group locations. He sent an email to Tom McGaffic letting him know there was a project, only blocks away from where his group meets, in need of a leader, and asked if he’d be willing to step up.

KATIE SCHMIDT LAURA JUDY

Come & See

He was. (It would be weird if he wasn’t, huh? That would be a much shorter and sadder article.)

Tom’s Connect group started meeting together in the summer of 2014 when Tom, after searching for the perfect group, concluded that if he was going to find the kind of group he was looking for, he may just need to create it.

Every Monday night, eight grown men, with the weight of their workday still very much intact, come together in a room to study the Bible and share their worlds with each other with great honesty.

It’s the type of honesty that feels almost risky, and certainly foreign, to many of us, but in this room it’s as if there isn’t another option.

These eight men have seen the positive implications of transparency and they’re not looking back.

“Each time I hear about these guys and where God is using them or even when they’re transparent about mistakes that they’ve made—it’s like looking in a mirror,” Tom says. “We don’t always realize it right away, but when one of us steps out or steps up, it brings all of us up.”

That’s precisely what happened in the early fall of 2016 when Jeff Carroll, a newer member of the group, started sharing his story with the guys. Years ago Jeff had been instrumental in a ministry in downtown Fort Lauderdale that made and distributed hundreds of burritos to the homeless population. Since moving to Orlando in 2014, Jeff had the desire to be a part of something meaningful in his new community, but was having a tough time finding the right outlet.

“He came in weekly, sharing that he was really

“For me,” Tom explains, “it was unbelievable meeting a guy like Jeff, learning more about him, and having him share with us his desire to be reconnected around ministry and serving. He came in weekly, sharing that he was really looking and struggling to find where it would be that God would use him. That was so empowering. It led me to start saying, ‘OK, God. I want to be used too.’”

looking and struggling to find where it would be that God would use him.

This is what was stirring in Tom when he received that email from Dan Sherfield asking about leading the Orlando Children’s Church (OCC) niceSERVE project. Every Saturday morning, an army of buses goes into the projects and some of the most distressed areas in Central Florida to pick up about 300 children (Pre-K through 12th grade). They bring them to a church in Maitland where the kids then have a whole morning to have fun and play, learn about Jesus and his grace, and eat some hash browns too.

That was so empowering.

It led me to start saying, ‘OK, God. I want to be used too.’” —Tom

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“We want to see each other fulfill our hearts’ callings and that goes for everything. In all of our endeavors it’s really clear that we’re

While Tom and his group’s niceSERVE project was to wash the buses, he couldn’t help but observe the kids and volunteers and be impacted by what he saw.

“It didn’t take me long after I showed up,” Tom says, “to feel this sense of the Holy Spirit working through those volunteers serving the kids. I quickly realized that God was at work there.”

going to do a lot more together than we would individually.” —Steve

That day at niceSERVE, Tom saw something that he couldn’t shake after the event was over—a group of high schoolers off to the side. Knowing the relatively low graduation rates of the typical kids that come through OCC, Tom felt that the odds were significantly stacked against not only these teenagers, but all of those 300 children at OCC. Those 300 children growing up in his own city.

Once Tom knew what OCC was up to and that it was happening in his own backyard, he knew that he either had to do something or live with the fact that he chose not to.

In the following weeks, Tom continued to wrestle with what he saw that day and brought it up in his Connect group. They, as they’re quite prone to do, encouraged Tom to start moving in the direction he felt God may be leading him.

Tom and his niceSERVE team, a mixture of new friends and old, spent their morning washing buses for OCC.

“I finally said ‘enough’ and picked up the phone and reached out to OCC,” Tom says. “I told them I wanted to talk about volunteer opportunities and when they asked me where I felt my gifts were—where I could really contribute—I felt like mentorship was the answer. That’s an area where in work I’ve been successful, and immediately they told me it was an answer to prayer.”

While OCC has been operating for 14 years, the vision has always been to further connect Christ-centered individuals with the children they serve outside of Saturday morning. What happens on Saturday is incredibly important work and has made a world of

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difference in the lives of hundreds of kids growing up in Orlando, but there was a mentorship component that had been missing.

“I’ve been able to connect with them and put the framework together for a mentorship program for these kids,” Tom explains. “I wanted whatever I gave to be the greatest I could give. That’s what’s been so great with OCC—it’s the intersection of their need and what I’ve been equipped to offer.”

When Dan found out the original email he had sent resulted in such a perfect match between OCC and Tom, he was elated. “The end goal is that service becomes a culture and not something we just do at niceSERVE,” Dan says. “And so for Tom to go from cleaning buses to ‘hey, let me get to know this organization, they’re doing great stuff’ to ‘how am I personally wired to do it with them?’ That’s a big deal.”

Tom’s Connect group has not only been wildly crucial in encouraging Tom to take those initial steps in his relationship with OCC, but they’re still very much in it with him for the long haul. As a group, they are

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committed to being a part of the mentorship program that Tom has been building with OCC. They’re equally, if not more, committed to cheer him on as he’s found the thing that makes his heart beat faster. The thing they’d been praying he would find.

“We’re going to support each other,” group member Steve Bowman explains. “We want to see each other fulfill our hearts’ callings and that goes for everything. In all of our endeavors it’s really clear that we’re going to do a lot more together than we would individually.”

While most of the guys would admit that the passion Tom feels for OCC isn’t quite as woven into their hearts as it is in his, once it became his thing, it became their thing.

“I may not feel the same passion, but I’m interested in doing it because he is,” Jeff says. “Whenever it comes to why we serve, the words ‘come and see’ have always made an impact on me. It’s as if you can come and see something different than you’ve ever seen before. It’s always blown me away. So with Tom, why would we not want to be a part of it? It’s what God is up to in him right now. I want to see it.”

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A Beautiful Mess NATHAN BOYET T

Following Jesus is more of an art than a science, although there certainly are times when we try to turn it into a science. For many of us, it may feel that there are checkboxes we need to hit to make sure we are really following Jesus in the best way possible. We can often forget (or try to bypass) the fact that following Jesus is about being in relationship with him, not crossing things off a list. The problem is, relationships are messy. And we don’t often want to get into a mess. We want a nice, clean guarantee that we’re holding up our end of the bargain so that Jesus will hold up his.

But that’s not how it works.

When did Jesus’ disciples cross the line into really following Jesus? Was it not until Acts 2 when they received the Holy Spirit after Jesus had returned to heaven? Was it shortly before that, when Jesus breathed on them in John 20? Or was it from the beginning, when Jesus first told them to follow him and they dropped their nets and did?

If we assume they first really followed Jesus upon that initial call, that is, when they first began physically following Jesus with their feet, we quickly see that it was not without a few missed steps—a few unchecked boxes—along the way.

While their zeal in following Jesus was generally consistent, it was often fleshed out in a whirlwind of ways. The disciples’ stories yield no shortage of misunderstandings, quarrels, fear, unjust anger, envy, forgetfulness, doubt, and unbelief.

And, as Jesus’ journey became more intense, the disciples found themselves denying, abandoning, or betraying him outright. Do you identify with any of these scenarios in your own pursuit of Jesus?

I know I do.

The beautiful thing is, when the disciples didn’t exactly hit the mark, this didn’t come as a surprise to Jesus. Jesus knew exactly what he was getting into, and while it did cause him heartache to see

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the effects of sin and brokenness in the world, it did not catch him off guard. He knew that even though the brokenness was so pervasive, the love and power of his Father was all-the-more pervasive and could work perfection even through the imperfection of his disciples.

Sometimes I get so caught up in trying to figure out all the specifics, the do’s and don’ts of following Jesus, that I lose sight of the bigger picture. I forget that I don’t need to have every aspect of his (or my) plan figured out before taking a step. The disciples certainly didn’t have it all figured out, but they took no shortage of steps, good and bad. The thing I love about the disciples is that their actions—the good ones and the bad ones—are all known precisely because they were being taken in pursuit of Jesus.

(Think of all the other fishermen of the time we know nothing about.)

Remembering that I don’t need to know it all before taking my next step is both scary and comforting. It’s scary because I rarely know what will happen next. Yet it’s comforting to know that a step toward Jesus is an invitation to God’s perfection.

I need to remember that following Jesus isn’t about knowing all the information first. It’s about taking all I know of me, and putting it toward all I know of Jesus. Perhaps that’s the line one crosses in beginning to follow Jesus. It’s not about finding and checking all the boxes. Jesus gave the disciples little information from the beginning, but nevertheless invited them into the very real mission of his Father. Sure, more information came over time, but it was their faith in motion that led to understanding, not their understanding that led to faith. It was a messy beginning, but was a beautiful start that launched the church that continues God’s mission to this day.

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“Jesus knew exactly what he was getting into, and while it did cause him heartache to see the effects of sin and brokenness in the world, it did not catch him off guard.”

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The Cost of Serving

JIM KELLER LAURA JUDY

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My wife, Renee, said to me recently that I like my comforts. And since she’s the one who knows me best, she was spot on. I’m willing to pay a bit more for more anything that speeds me up and eases my way. There’s nothing like someone paying a bit more attention to you and making sure you’re doing well. I’m willing to pay a bit extra for great service. Which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable whenever I read (and definitely when I preach!) Mark 9:35, “Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.’” Not to mention Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” It strikes me that Jesus wasn’t one who was overly concerned with his personal comforts.

other people. We are called to be sacrificial of our time to further God’s Kingdom—whether it be anywhere from a few minutes to a lifetime of committed service to others.

3. Friction When surfaces in contact move relative to each other, the friction between the two surfaces converts kinetic energy into thermal energy. Service involves contact with others, and when we serve it creates its own energy. The Apostle John says in 1 John 3 that we cannot see a brother in need and say only “be warm and be filled” while doing nothing. We need to be willing to stand up and meet the need by making contact with others. Nothing encourages serving like being in the presence and hearing the stories of those with needs. And nothing gives us joy like being able to see needs being met!

So the question that I need to answer as a follower of Jesus is, if I’m willing to pay for great service, am I likewise willing to pay to be a servant of others? Because service done right always costs us something. We are called to lay aside our own agendas and take up the needs of others as our priority. Here are some suggestions that help center me when I consider my call to service and what it will cost me:

4. Feelings Mark 6 tells us that Jesus, when he saw the crowds that followed him, was filled with compassion.

Service without a compassionate heart falls short of our call. There is a love motivation that needs to accompany every act of helping others. Certainly this compassion can be furthered by the act of serving, but we are called to serve from a motivation of love… “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

“So the question that I need to answer as a

follower of Jesus is, if I’m willing to pay for great

1. Focus The first step that is necessary in serving others is to understand what the needs are and who are the people who have those needs. Paul commands us in Philippians 2:3-4: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” Serving, then, begins with our attention, actively looking to the interests of others. This begins with asking others closest to us and then expanding our view to the world itself.

service, am I likewise

Renee and I went to Summit’s church-wide service day, niceSERVE, in fall of 2016, and were assigned to Life for Kids, a nonprofit that helps children, adolescents, and even adults deal with the loss of a parent or spouse. So, we took time to focus (niceSERVE did a great job to help us with that), we gave up four hours of our free time to do some face-to-face contact (friction) with some of the staff and volunteers at Life for Kids. It did something for Renee and me to hear of all the people that were being helped (feelings).

willing to pay to be a servant of others?”

2. Free Time Once we have the needs of others in sight, we then need to be willing to give our time. Jesus said a servant is not greater than his or her master, and if he came to serve us, then we are called to serve others. That means that we are not in charge of our own schedules. God is! My (and your) most precious possession is our time. And when I’m not working, I want to be able to dictate my own schedule. But it’s not all about me! Perhaps the biggest sacrifice we can make is the offering up of our time to serve

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We are a people on mission, that mission being to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom here on earth until the day of Christ’s return. While we’re waiting for that day, let’s be the servants Christ calls us to be. Servants that focus on others, and are willing to compassionately give their time, energy, and finances to meet their needs. It’s work, but it’s good work that has a lasting impact. So, while I do like my comforts, I have to admit I enjoy serving more!

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Hunting for Rivers REAGAN PERKINS GREG PERKINS

This past fall my husband and I took a trip to southern Utah. It was my first time in Utah, and I was immediately fascinated by it. I was fascinated by the redness of the rock, by the perfectly straight lines that were cut into the face of the mountains by the wind, and how all of the colors surrounding me would magically change as the sun set for the day. I was a smitten kitten for Utah. But one thing my Floridian brain never got used to in our week out in the wilderness was the lack of water. Or more accurately, the lack of lakes. If you have spent more than three hours in Florida you pick up on the fact that we have a lot of lakes.

Entire major roads are forced to be cut in two by them.

Lakes exist in Florida the way four seasons of weather exist everywhere else. We have a lot of water here.

There is a unique mission in all of us. Certainly we are all called under the umbrella of the gospel to preach God’s truth to all nations, but we were each given a unique way of fulfilling that mandate. You were created with the purpose of joining Christ in the renewal of all things, and along with that came a unique something, call it passion, call it purpose, call it mission, but it flows in your blood and makes your heart pump faster. You may not always be able to name it, but you know it when you see it.

But in Utah, water is a scarcity. It is a hot commodity and a hard one to find. My Floridian eyes kept wanting to interpret the shadows of passing clouds on the landscape as lakes, but no. There was nothing but dirt and rock and more dirt.

And then something caught my attention. Sometimes when we would climb way up high and gaze down into a majestic Utah landscape, I would catch patches of greenery winding through the red rock. It turned out there was water in Utah!

You just had to know how to look for it. Those patches of green were the life that was able to thrive on the banks of a river. Sometimes the river itself would be so dry that you would only be able to see the green of life surrounding it, rather than the river itself. But it was there! Water!

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From that moment on, I was a river hunter. My waterthirsty eyes were parched for it and became experts at deciphering the clues that water was nearby. Once I discovered where the river lived, I began to notice that the force of the river varied depending on its surroundings.

Sometimes the river was strong and wild, so strong, in fact, that people braver than me could be propelled by its force as they did battle with the rushing beast in kayaks and on rafts. The river was a gush of power in those moments.

Other times the river would become so faint you could barely see it was there, save for the random patch of green against the red dust that barely whispered the presence of water. The river was sustaining life even when it had so little of itself to give. The river gave of itself so that the wild could continue on.

you completely. You might be required for a while to trudge alone silently next to the slender snake of green and you will feel very lonely with your mission, as if you are the only soul who truly cares about its existence. But it still pumps through your blood. Even when the mission is at its slightest and most worn out, it still gives life to its surroundings. It still beats the drum, however faintly it might be for the moment.

The mission ebbs and flows in you.

What’s your mission? You were given a mission. Yes, a mission to join Jesus in the renewal of all things, but how that mission plays out in your own individual life is unique to you. Find your river. Find that one issue, that one group of people, that one injustice, that one cause, that one goal, that Jesus wants you to infuse life into using his power. Find something that makes your heart beat faster. Find something that you are willing to sacrifice for. Find something that you are willing to do battle with, sometimes with a raft full of other people and sometimes all by yourself. Find a mission that brings life to dead places. Find a raft to jump onto as it floats by or invite people onto your own. While the mission can be a lonely walk at times, we were meant to live in community. Share the thread of mission you have found in your heart with those people in your life you love and trust the most. We aren’t all called to the same missions, but we are called to cheer and spur one another on in love as we move toward our unified goal of bringing life to a dead world. Shine a light on your mission and invite others in. We, as a church, were called to join Jesus in the renewal of all things. You were created with a mission, your own piece of the earth that you were called to bring to renewal for Christ. The world, that we are tasked with bringing new life to, is a big place. So if you don’t tackle the one mission that Christ has placed in you, that corner of the Kingdom will go undone. You taking on your mission is vital to the work of Christ being accomplished this side of heaven. Find it, invite others into it, and then follow your river.

The river is not unlike the mission that lives inside of you. It may take you a while to pick up on its scent. You may have to train your eyes and your soul to hear it when it is as faint as a whisper, but it can be found if you are willing to look for it.

Close your eyes for a moment and let your heart wander.

Ask Jesus to bring thoughts from your heart to your mind and then follow the rabbit trails. What topic, what people, what cause, when brought forth from the recesses of your heart, makes you simultaneously burn with passion for it and fume with righteous anger at the injustice surrounding it?

Here you will find the headwaters of your unique mission.

After you identify it, you will notice that just like a mighty river surviving in a wasteland, it will ebb and flow as you move through life. At times, mission will run in your life so powerfully and so freely that it will take everyone you come into contact with on a wild ride. Your mission will become contagious, and for an all-too-brief moment everyone will be on a raft together, catapulted forward, on a massive adventure that is literally changing the world. The mission gushes through the lifeless landscapes of our world and leaves a trail of life in its wake.

And then at other times, the mission will be harder to find. You will feel like it has perhaps dried up and disappeared altogether. Your heart will feel empty and cold and you might even feel too tired and exhausted to search for it again. Sometimes the mission will still spark up in you but it won’t catch flame as easily as it once did before. But the mission never leaves

“At times, mission will run in your life so powerfully and so freely that it will take everyone you come into contact with on a wild ride.”

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Proclamation vs.

Demonstration

JEFF KERN JEREMY KENNEDY

There is an interesting debate that has surfaced recently in church circles. But, as we look at the underlying question, it’s really a debate that precedes our current cultural context and has been going on for some time. The question is: What is the balance between gospel proclamation and gospel demonstration?

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On one side there are those who argue that what is most important is to share the eternal life-giving message of the gospel as our primary focus and task. The idea is built upon the rationale that what is of greatest importance is the eternal destiny of a person’s soul. And regardless of his or her current economic or social plight, what is preeminent is to see someone become a follower of Christ—so they might spend eternity with God in heaven free of any pain and suffering.

On the other side are those who argue that the gospel comes across as mere words if we are not willing to first demonstrate the love of God through our compassion and service to those who are unjustly treated, socially marginalized, and otherwise outcast in society. In this view, when the church rises up as the hands and feet of Jesus, we can demonstrate the love of God to our needy world.

I personally grew up in a tradition of the church where proclamation was far and away considered to be the priority of the church. In my experience, while there was a genuine concern for the poor, that concern never really translated into meaningful service, as the clear focus of our energy was directed toward evangelism, discipleship, and church planting.

It wasn’t until late fall of 1998 that my overall view came into question—and it came in the form of the deadliest hurricane to ever strike North America. In late October of that year I remember getting word from my friends in Honduras to pray. Hurricane Mitch, with its sustained winds of 180 mph, had formed in the Caribbean and was tracking to come up the coast and wipe out the city of La Cieba, Honduras. What occurred over the next three days was absolutely devastating to this small Central American nation.

Over 7,000 people lost their lives in the storm. 35,000 homes were destroyed, and another 50,000 were damaged.

Over 1.5 million people were left homeless while the economy lay in ruins. This agrarian culture saw 70% of its crops lost in massive landslides and flooding.

For five years leading up to this point, I had been traveling to Honduras as part of my job working with an international church planting organization. This wasn’t just another news piece on CNN—these were my friends.

Two weeks after the hurricane, I was on one of the first flights allowed back into San Pedro Sula. I remember seeing

the stain of the flood-water line well above my head as I walked through baggage claim. As we left the airport, I was taken to the nearby Olympic soccer stadium. This facility had become one of many tent cities where the displaced and homeless could find basic shelter, medical relief, and food. As rain seeped through the canvas above our heads, I sat with families who were still bewildered by the scope of the tragedy unfolding all around them.

Our ministry in Honduras partnered with the disaster relief organization, Samaritan’s Purse, to respond to the innumerable needs of the people affected by Mitch. Over the next two years—as we rebuilt 5,000 homes that had been washed away in floods, as we provided needed medical relief for over 250,000 people, as we distributed Christmas shoe boxes to over 3,000,000 children—I saw the power of the church as it rises up in the face of tragedy to bring the love of Christ in tangible ways.

At the end of two years of rebuilding and demonstrating the love of Christ, there was an event for two evenings in the same Olympic stadium that once housed the homeless from the storm. This was the opportunity to now stand up and proclaim the gospel of Christ and it elicited a remarkable and overwhelming response to the gospel.

The reason was obvious to us all. In the very same stadium that demonstration of the gospel through service occurred, the gospel of grace was proclaimed.

For me, Hurricane Mitch marked a transition in my approach to service and proclamation. I was drawn to look more deeply at the Scriptures and to assess my overall view. While the Scriptures were still the same—God never shifted in this regard—what had changed was my perspective.

I began to see God’s call for his people to act justly as integral to his mission for our lives. The answer to the question is neither proclamation or demonstration—it is simply both.

We are to live the gospel through acts of service, kindness, and justice—as the church rises up in love to show people how much God loves them. And we are to proclaim it, telling any and all who will open their hearts to the life-giving message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In essence, I think I’ve learned the beauty and power of the both/and.

“While the Scriptures were still the same— God never shifted in

this regard—what had changed was

my perspective.”

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Eight is

MELISSA STILLMAN DEBORAH KLINE

Three short years ago, Jesus and Stacy Aquino were living the “American dream.” During their 14 years of marriage, they’d worked hard to build a happy life. They had an 11-year-old daughter, Rachel, whom they adored, a beautiful home in the Avalon Park area, and jobs they enjoyed—Jesus as a real estate broker and Stacy as a substitute teacher. But God was whispering that something was missing, and the couple started to feel nudges in a very specific direction—adoption.

Soon Jesus and Stacy began meeting many Summit families that had adopted children. Stacy says, “It had always been the three of us, but God started planting seeds. We’d leave an encounter thinking, ‘No, this isn’t true; he isn’t calling us,’ but it never left our hearts.”

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Unsure about the next right step, Jesus and Stacy attended a Summit-sponsored event where they became a certified host family through the Bethany Christian Service’s Safe Families for Children program. After the training, the Aquinos opened their home to a little girl in need of a temporary home. Her two-week stay in August 2013 confirmed for Stacy, Jesus, and Rachel that they were indeed ready to adopt. Stacy says, “When she left, it broke our hearts. We fell in love with her in one week and wanted to keep her. So we pursued straight adoption. We decided that this was it—we couldn’t take any more hints or clues. No more backing up or making excuses, it was time to be obedient.”

all going to circle up around the tree and open presents, and have moments as a family that would have never happened if we hadn’t taken this step. I think about it sometimes like a Hallmark movie.”

When people meet the Aquinos, they often express how big of a job it must be to adopt five children at once. While eight people, two dogs, and a cat under one roof does make for a very busy house, Jesus and Stacy—who the kids call Papito and Mamita—consider themselves blessed. Stacy says, “I always looked at large families and thought they were so lucky to have a big job. What’s better than investing in a human life?

And it’s amazing to be in your house and be serving God.” Jesus agrees, saying, “At the end of the day, when we hear the prayers of our children, it makes it all worth it. It’s not always easy, but no matter how tired we are, we know that we are building God’s Kingdom.”

During the search for their new family member, Jesus and Stacy spent hours poring over adoptflorida.org. When Stacy spotted a grainy photo of a sibling group—three boys and two girls—she knew right away that she’d found what God had sent her searching for. Jesus took a little more convincing. He says, “We weren’t in the market for five kids, and I knew that if we took one of them in, we would take them all so they wouldn’t be split up. We went into it with a lot of faith. Sometimes we look back at ourselves during that time and think, ‘Who were those people?’”

After a rigorous screening process and weeks of supervised visitations, the Aquino family grew from three to eight in the fall of 2015. Although the transition process was tough at times, both Stacy and Jesus could relate to what the kids were going through. Jesus, who grew up in Puerto Rico, was adopted by his grandmother at age 12; and Stacy spent a portion of her South Florida childhood in the care of relatives. Stacy says, “Now I know why my childhood was how it was. I can look at my kids and say, ‘I understand.’ We want them to have a sense of belonging and a feeling of confidence because they’re part of the Aquino team.”

It’s been a year since they came home and the kids—Denae, 9, Isaac, 8, Gabriel, 6, Aaliyah, 5, Esteban, 3—are thriving. They’re doing well in school, are active in Summit’s Base Camp and AWANA (a weekly children’s discipleship program), and are learning Spanish, which is often spoken by the family at home.

They enjoy spending time in their backyard—swimming in the pool and helping in the garden that includes tropical plants, fruit trees, and stepping stones they painted. Stacy says, “It’s so much fun to see them grow. They came from situations where they were malnourished and behind developmentally.

The kids had been separated into five different foster homes, which was really hard for them. Now there’s so much change in each of them—weekly, daily. They are such an amazing addition to our family. If we hadn’t taken this step and adopted these special kids, we would be the ones missing out.”

Rachel, now 14, had a unique role in the adoption, going from only child to big sister to five younger siblings. She says, “When I look at them, I see that one day these are going to be five people living lives that we had an impact on. They’re going to have five different families and at Christmas we’re ISSUE 27

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Too Young KATE BOSSE

HARRISON PORTER

What have you learned in the last nine years?

Throughout our lives, God gives us all unique experiences in which we have the opportunity to learn not only who he is but also who he has created us to be. Each of us possess particular gifts and passions that have been given to us by our Creator to be used for his glory. Over his nine years of life thus far, Sebastian Salisbury has discovered a love for pizza, the color yellow, and the two Action Bibles in his Base Camp classroom. He’s made the big decision to someday pursue a career in part-time deep sea diving and mining. And he’s developed a deep desire to serve God and his people.

Sebastian is one of the youngest helpers in Base Camp and is a source of joy to those around him. Throughout the course of my interview with Sebastian, we were stopped several times by fellow volunteers and Summit attendees who wanted to give him hugs. I have had the privilege of being Sebastian’s small group leader each Sunday morning and have greatly enjoyed watching him realize how much God loves him. Sebastian is silly, wildly curious, and has a thirst for learning. When I ask Sebastian what advice he would give

to someone who might be afraid of taking the (admittedly big) step of serving, his response is confident and spoken with a heart of encouragement. “I would tell them to look at the 365 times the Bible says ‘do not be afraid’—it actually says that!

Crazy, right?!”

Sebastian’s warm presence and willingness to serve as a helper in Base Camp has been influential for many families at Summit.

Herndon Children’s Ministry Director, Deanna McLellan, says, “Whenever we have a newcomer, I always scan the classroom to see if Sebastian is there. I know he’ll take them under his wing and make them feel welcome.”

Though he is young, Sebastian can’t help but serve. We often assume that serving is just for adults, but the truth is God has called us all to serve, regardless of our age and ability.

So, anyone can serve. But why do we serve? We all have our own answers to this question. In Sebastian’s case, he is able to see how service can be beneficial not only SU M MIT

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for the ones being served, but for the one serving as well. “It helps you to help other people,” he says. “It makes you happy.”

At his young age, Sebastian understands a simple truth that over time many of us have forgotten. We have all been gifted with a unique set of gifts and an equally unique calling. As complicated or scary as things seem at times, the first step in doing big things with these giftings is a very simple one: Be willing.

Sebastian feels the call to serve and is willing. “I just want to help other people,” he says. “It’s just a gift God gave me.”

Life may be bigger and more complex than Sebastian can fully see at this point in time, but maybe it is also a lot simpler than we make it out to be. I think we can learn from Sebastian and the younger generation he represents. We need to cultivate a childlike wonder and faith in God, one that is free from worldly pains and disappointments.

Be encouraged. Do not be afraid. God has given you a gift. Trust in this truth, and be willing to act accordingly.

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The

Effect KATIE SCHMIDT

LAURA JUDY

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In a Spanish class at Glenridge Middle School in 2012, Djwan Thompson picked Jordan Moore’s name at random out of a hat. Djwan had just moved to Orlando from Atlanta, and Jordan had been living in a temporary home called Home Suite Home with his mom and siblings. They shook hands, pulled their chairs together, and made plans for that afternoon to start on their project.

Three days later, Jordan was surprised to spot Djwan across the Herndon Lobby. He strolled on up to him and said, “Come with me.”

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invited them to join her for a service at Summit. “When we got here,” Walter says, “We finally were able to find something that spoke to us. We’ve been here ever since.”

Not only did Amy and Walter start attending, they hit the ground running inviting. “We felt that we had found something here, and we wanted to show others,” Walter mentions. They started inviting friends, coworkers, and family—including Jordan and his siblings.

“At the time, all the boys were young enough that all the cousins went into Base Camp. When we’d get here on Sundays, Jill Kern (Herndon Preschool Coordinator) would greet them. She was always just, ‘Hi, how are you guys?’ like they were important.” Amy describes that as the boys got older, and transitioned from Base Camp to Surge to Edge, they became increasingly invested here.

The impact made by the volunteers who interacted with Jordan when he was in Base Camp runs in a couple of different directions. Not only did those who served him as a young boy make him feel welcome and that he was important, but they instilled in him an interest in serving others himself. “Being in Base Camp made me want to volunteer because they were so nice to me, I wanted to be like them,” he says. “Before that, I used to not like the idea of volunteering. I think it’s ‘cause I disliked the kind of community I came from; ‘What could I do?’ But being here taught me that helping is a lot better than just ignoring. If everyone thought like I used to—like they couldn’t do much to help and all—kids like me would get ignored.”

Jordan first started coming to Summit in 2008 when his kind-of-but-not-quite aunt and uncle began attending here.

“Whenever my mom was in a bad position, Amy and Walter would open up their home to me,” Jordan explains.

“Amy is my mom’s brother’s ex-wife. So she’s my removed step-aunt and Walter… Walter is a guy who says he’s my uncle,” Jordan says with a shy chuckle as he attempts to explain a relatively complicated family tree. “They’re both nice people who take care of me and claim to be part of my lineage despite there being no blood relation at all.”

Jordan grew older and became more and more involved at Summit, realizing that he too was having a similar experience to Amy and Walter—he found something he liked, and wanted those he cared about to experience it too. “Coming to Summit was what I looked forward to every week, so it came up in conversation when I’d make friends. And so I’d say—I mean it’s pretty simple—I’d just say, ‘Hey, wanna come to this thing I go to?’ They don’t always come, but I always ask.”

As for Amy and Walter, both had grown up showing up to church on Sundays, but never quite felt that they fit, and so in adulthood they simply tapered off. “I was never getting anything out of church,” Walter explains. Amy agrees, “I heard the words, but it didn’t really sink in.”

Amy and Walter have noticed—because, truly you couldn’t meet Jordan and not notice—how much of an innate pull toward invitation Jordan has. “He wants all of

A few years ago, a woman they met through taking the boys (Amy’s two sons and Jordan and his brother) to Boy Scouts

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his friends to come, he wants to invite everyone, he wants to bring his friends everywhere. I think maybe coming from what he’s gone through…” Amy says.

about who don’t know about God, who will? The whole point is to tell people.”

While there’s a whole crew of teenagers at Summit who first showed up here because of Jordan, his bend toward invitation extends past the first invite. He not only looks for opportunities to invite people in, but to invite people deeper.

“He may not have had that opportunity and is now kind of grasping at it,” Walter adds.

“Exactly,” Amy confirms. “You know how they say it takes a village? It’s kinda like Jordan is growing his own village.”

One of those people just so happened to be a new kid in school in 2012 by the name of Djwan Thompson.

And so Jordan builds through invitation, and for him it seems that simple. “Isn’t that the whole point? To tell people? If I don’t invite my friends and the people I care

Due to past hurts she experienced growing up in the church, Lawanda Thompson has always prioritized a safe place for her children to grow in their faith at a young age. This is what brought her to a church in Atlanta that allowed for her family to learn together, and what eventually brought her to Summit (well, that and a Google search).

As for her oldest son, Djwan, Lawanda saw a love of God early on and wanted to find a place where they could express their faith together. “I wanted to throw my energy to the Lord,” she says. “And Djwan has been a part of my growth as a person because I had him when I was so young.

He’s been with me in everything, so, Meals on Wheels? Yeah, but you take your kid to volunteer. That’s what you do; you don’t leave him over there, you take him with you. We’d go and pray for people in their homes. He’s been serving since he was a baby!”

While the memories are a little fuzzy, Djwan recalls those early days serving as a young kid in Atlanta. “I didn’t know exactly what I was doing, I mean, I was young. So I understood—yeah, I’m serving—but everything didn’t click together. The connection between God and serving, it hadn’t clicked yet why I was serving or for who.”

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By the time the Thompson family ended up in Winter Park, Florida, and started coming to Summit, Djwan was in middle school and went into the Sanctuary with his parents for their first two Sundays. It’s somewhere in those first few weeks in Florida that Djwan and Jordan’s paths crossed in Spanish class and then days later in the Herndon Lobby.

What Djwan doesn’t know is that there’s a woman named Cheryl who’s involved with Boy Scouts in Casselberry and in 2008 a woman named Amy was in her path, so she invited her to Summit. She was at the right place at the right time, and though she’ll likely never meet the second graders that Djwan teaches Bible stories to every Sunday, the ripple effect of her small act of obedience goes further than we’ll know this side of eternity.

Since Jordan was already active at Surge and serving in Base Camp, he invited Djwan into what he didn’t even realize was familiar territory—serving.

“So Jordan, his upbeat self, invited Djwan to serve in Children’s Ministry,” Lawanda explains. “And the rest is history. Djwan has been serving here ever since.”

Over the years, Djwan has served at niceSERVE events, as a Junior Volunteer in Base Camp, as a Student Leader at Surge, as a cast member in the BCL production of The Road to Zamboria, and he also wants to make sure we’re all on the same page that he wanted to serve on a First Impressions team, but it was tough for him to find the time. Quick reminder that Djwan is 17-years-old. And yet his hunger for serving is pouring out of him—it’s reflected in everything he does.

For Djwan, it has a lot to do with the possibility and potential that volunteering can bring, both for himself and the people he’s serving. “You never know what will happen when you serve,” he starts. “You never know whose life you may be changing in that specific point in time or how long the change you helped to make will affect them.”

While the seeds were planted early on for Djwan to be the kind of teenager who serves with consistency and joy, it was Jordan’s invitation that took Djwan deeper. Just as there is a crew of teenagers at Summit who were invited by Jordan, there are classrooms full of kids growing up here who Djwan is making an impact on.

When he was defining what service and mission is to him, Djwan mentioned something that rang true not only as an insightful approach to serving, but may have something to do with that hat in Spanish class with Jordan’s name in it. “There’s times in life when people need you and God puts you in the exact right place. So I’m just hoping that I’m in the right place at the right time for the people God puts in my path.”

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Giving Away 15% SU M MIT

O.J. ALDRICH

One of the things I get to do every week in my role as a campus minister is invite people to faithfully give to Summit.

Each and every week I get to invite people to give of themselves—their time, their resources, their money—to the work that God has started and is still inviting us to in the world today.

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Because of our partnership with Orlando Children’s Church, hundreds of kids receive backpacks and school supplies through our annual Backpack Drive.

It has turned into one of my favorite things to talk about because it matters so much— what happens through our faithfulness and generosity is unbelievable. And while it makes a lasting impact inside the walls of our campuses, 15% of every dollar that comes through the doors of Summit is immediately sent right back out. The impact of our generosity exceeds the bounds of our walls.

I love that I get to see and share the impact of that 15% going out our doors and toward God-honoring work in the community and around the globe. I get to tell stories about teenage mothers being loved by caring adults through the work we support through YoungLives. I get to share about children in Malawi being raised up to change their nation through the work of Children of the Nations, families given hope through job training through Childre’s HopeChest, women who were once trafficked now being cared for and reminded that they are deeply loved by God through Samaritan Village.

I love getting to share stories of lives being changed. I love that every week I get to tell anyone and everyone who tithes at Summit that they are—whether they realize it or not—a part of these stories. Stories that, if we were on our own, we may not be able to tell, but through our giving and partnership we get to be a part of. That’s why getting on stage each Sunday and reminding our congregation that their giving matters has become one of the best and easiest things I get to do. I love that I get to be the church with people that leverage their resources to set right in this world what God so desperately cares about.

Women learning new craft skills through Summit’s partnership with Market Colors.

Why do we give?

We give as an expression of mercy for both our local and global community. We give to invest in other agents of change as our visions align. We give to promote justice for those afflicted by disease, hunger, and poverty, against which they have no means to defend themselves. And sometimes we give as nothing more than an act of extravagant love—the same love we have never deserved, but receive all the same at the hands of our Savior.

That 15% takes many forms, including (but not limited to) regular support of missionaries, organizations, church plants, and individual gifts of benevolence.

Summit volunteers at UP Orlando sort through donations at the downtown outreach center.

Children’s HopeChest

Christmas Eve Offering (2016)

$83,913 Every year, as part of our Christmas Eve celebration across campuses, we give the entire offering from all of our services to either a local or global organization that is up to something we want to be a part of. Last year, our Christmas Eve Offering was given to Children’s HopeChest, and was one of our largest in Summit history. Thank you for being a part of it!

$7,812,978 has been leveraged for ministry outside the walls of Summit since day one.

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Giving Away 15% / Our Partner Organizations Good News Jail and Prison Ministries

A ministry aiming to match chaplains with jails and prisons to minister to the spiritual needs of inmates and staff. Good News has developed several practical, life-giving programs that introduce inmates and staff to Christ and helps them grow in their knowledge of him and his Word. goodnewsjail.org

Grace Medical Home

A medical home reflecting the heart of Christ by offering the highest level of health care to those in our community who need it most. gracemedicalhome.org

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Samaritan Village

Orlando Children’s Church UP Orlando

An organization serving those in poverty by providing crisis care, case management, transformative education, food and household subsidy, employment training and placement, personal empowerment training, and active referrals to other collaborative social service providers. uporlando.org

A Christ-centered program for women transitioning from sexual exploitation to healing, wholeness, and productivity. samaritanvillage.net

A nonprofit dedicated to reaching at-risk students through physical nourishment, spiritual renewal, and the cultivation of authentic relationships.

OCC intentionally invests in networking with local churches, providing students with venues to mature beyond their OCC morning experience. orlandochildrenschurch.org

The Jobs Partnership of Florida

A thriving, faith-based partnership of individuals, churches, employers, and community organizations working together to transform the lives of the working poor and underemployed in our community. jobspartnership.org

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Young Life

An organization with the vision of every adolescent having the opportunity to meet Jesus Christ and follow him. It starts with adults who are concerned enough about kids to go to them, on their turf and in their culture, building bridges of authentic friendship. younglife.org

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Children’s HopeChest

An organization existing to glorify God by releasing the potential of orphaned and vulnerable children and their communities through partnerships that cultivate holistic transformation and sustainability. hopechest.org

World Relief

An organization standing with the vulnerable, partnering with local churches to end the cycle of suffering, transforming lives, and building sustainable communities. worldrelief.org

Children of the Nations

International Justice Mission

Africa Windmill Project

A nonprofit that started in an effort to end hunger by teaching families how to grow food. Africa Windmill Project focuses on educating and supporting rural farmers as they work to feed and care for their families. africawindmill.org

A global organization that protects the poor from violence in the developing world. IJM’s global team includes more than 750 lawyers, investigators, social workers, community activists, and other professionals at work through 17 field offices. ijm.org

An organization aiming to provide holistic, Christ-centered care for orphaned and destitute children, enabling them to create positive and lasting change in their nations. cotni.org

GLOBAL

Market Colors

A nonprofit and online store that exists to make a lasting impact for families throughout Africa and India through collaboration with local craftsmen to create and sell products throughout the world. marketcolors.org

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Nairobi Chapel

A church aiming to see that each and every person that God brings through their doors has a lifechanging encounter and begins to live a life of purpose, growing in their relationship with God, and become more Christ-like as his disciples. nairobichapel.net

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When Helping Hurts KARI FREEMAN

How can helping hurt? I had scoffingly asked myself this question over the years as a book called, When Helping Hurts, had been recommended to me. Sure, we may not always help in the best way, or perhaps in a way that’s only temporary, and that’s not ideal. But hurtful? Come on, that defies the very meaning of the word.

Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert’s book focuses on “how to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor...and yourself.” Before I’d read the book, I hadn’t ever realized that poverty alleviation was something I didn’t understand. Last year I entered into a group study of this book as part of my preparation for going to Africa. It was there that the unexpected surfaced—I did not understand poverty.

Summit’s Global Partnership Coordinator, Nathan Boyett, started this study to redefine what success looks like as we prepared to go to Africa. But, whether you have any intention of ever setting foot on the continent of Africa or not, this applies to you. As one of my teammates said, “Don’t read this book for your trip to Africa, read it for your life.”

No one on the team knew each other prior to starting this study. In our desire to go to Africa, we were all searching for a connection with our community, God, and the people we would meet there.

Kari and her team went to Malawi in July of 2016 and focused on working with students who have special needs.

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in to utilize our main asset; we want to give stuff.

Things like relationships are harder for us. It’s hard for us to consider the idea that when we encounter the materially poor, there is actually potential for us to force our own brokeness onto relationships that were previously intact through the giving of stuff in the wrong context.

“Each of us had to face our own brokenness, accept its presence, and allow God to take that burden from us.”

We started our time together looking at why Jesus came to earth, agreeing that he certainly came to die on a cross for us. But we found it easy to forget about the rest of his time here. While he was here, Jesus taught us how to serve. He taught us to pray that things happen here and now the way they happen in heaven (Matthew 6:10). He didn’t teach us just to serve because it’s a good thing to do, but rather to pursue the ministry of reconciliation that God has given us.

He taught us to serve as “Christ’s ambassadors” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20) to this world, not just dream about the next.

And then the study hit the point that caused me and some of the others to question whether we should continue—a point that made some of us wonder if we should even go to Africa.

Our world is broken, that’s no shocker, but here’s what’s truly broken—it’s our relationships. The book describes how we all suffer from broken relationships— with God, with ourselves, with each other, or with the rest of creation. Poverty isn’t limited to a lack of material things. It’s brokenness in any combination of these four relationships. When you think about it in those terms, it turns out that we, as members of the western world, are often more prone to poverty than the materially poor.

Can you see it? The struggles with self-esteem, broken family units, hate, bullying, isolation. It’s all poverty. If we ourselves are some of the most vulnerable to relational poverty, how can we possibly help those who may be in broken relationship with the rest of creation (material poverty), but often surpass us in the other three areas? What are we to do when our biggest asset only even begins to address one-fourth of the problem?

The further we dug into this idea, the more we realized how deep our misunderstanding ran. When we encounter the materially poor, our instincts kick

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We paint ourselves as the heroes, forgetting that each community already has assets. As we elevate ourselves to be the only “givers” in the interaction, we rob our self-delegated “receivers” of the blessing of sharing some of their invaluable assets with us.

As the sobering reality of these truths began to sink in, we began to feel the weight of the knowledge that we may have contributed to tearing down healthy, functional relationships in the past. Each of us had to face our own brokenness, accept its presence, and allow God to take that burden from us.

Each of us gradually began adding relationships to our perceptions of poverty alleviation. Despite our newfound reservations, we all went to Africa. Our revelations unveiled what it may look like for us to cross the Atlantic as partners, not heroes.

But I said this applies to you as well, didn’t I? As we came back from our time in Africa, we realized that helping here looks shockingly similar to helping in Africa. We all need those four relationships—God, ourselves, each other, and creation—intact no matter where we live. Ignoring even one throws everything off. If we are to actually redefine poverty alleviation, many of us will probably have to look back and mourn a time when what we thought was helpful actually hurt someone. It may be messy and it will be hard but that’s OK. In the end, redefining poverty wasn’t really for my trip to Africa—it was for my life.

Interested in reading it too?

You should! When Helping Hurts provides proven strategies for effective poverty alleviation, and is a helpful resource for anyone aiming to see and restore the dignity in everyone.

Artist Feature

Josh Butler JEREMY LUKENS LAURA JUDY

Five years ago, Josh Butler became a carpenter out of necessity. The band he had been touring with for six years broke up and Josh needed a job. When a friend needed furniture for a new bar he was opening in Winter Park, he asked Josh to build it. Though his woodworking experience was limited at that point, Josh took the job and began his career in the trade.

“I’ve always enjoyed doing things with my hands,” Josh says.

“There’s something special about taking a piece of wood and making it into something that is useful for someone.”

Much of Josh’s woodworking skills are self-taught, through trial and error, as well as countless hours of instructional YouTube videos. “You have to just decide one day to build something. Just go do it,” he says, offering advice for anyone interested in the trade. “Your first try may not look very good but you can still sit back and say you built something. The next thing you build will look better.”

Family has always been an important part of Josh’s handiwork.

He learned woodworking and other skilled trades by helping his father. “My dad never paid to fix anything,” he says. Instead, weekends were spent on various house projects. Helping his dad around the house, Josh learned the value of hands-on learning and self-sufficiency.

Josh loves the challenge and creativity of woodworking; he connects with it on a deeper level. “If an old dining room table could talk, think about the stories it could tell,” he muses. “When I’m building a dining room table, I think about the conversations that will take place around it.”

Josh hopes to one day teach other children the skills he learned from his father. “I would love to offer woodworking classes for kids and incorporate a positive message with working with your hands,” he says. “I’d love to offer those as a way to give back to the community and make working with your hands fun for kids.”

Though Josh has made a lot of furniture for restaurants, offices, and more (including the table in the Resource Center at the Herndon Campus), his favorite product was one of the simplest: a small table for his daughters Ruby, age two, and Adelaide, age six. “It’s a simple table but it should last for a while and maybe one day they can give it to their kids,” Josh says. “It has paint splattered on it and I’m excited for the day 20 years from now when it has years and years of kids’ mess on it.”

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Josh isn’t the only creative one in the family. His wife Mary Hannah is going to school for interior design and Josh hopes to one day incorporate her design into his carpentry business. For now, when working on a project he likes to run designs by her to get her feedback. “She’s great at telling me what’s not good,” he laughs.

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Some of Josh’s work can be seen in the new Lazy Moon location in the Mills/50 district.

Though the girls are young, Josh plans to hand down the craftsman knowledge he learned from his own dad.

Time working on projects with his girls is about more than just bonding, though. “I want to empower my girls to know that they can build things if they want to,” he says. “I want them to be self-sufficient.”

After school, Adelaide sometimes spends time with Josh at his shop. “She’ll help me with some small things,” he says. “Mostly she likes playing with the air hoses,” he recalls with a laugh. Josh gets excited when he thinks about the things he wants to teach the girls—the sense of accomplishment of making something of their own, the comfort of knowing they can fix things themselves.

“Getting their hands dirty will definitely be a part of their upbringing,” he says.

ETC

During the month of March, we leveraged the 6 p.m. Sunday Service at the Herndon Campus to hear from organizations and churches doing God-honoring work in our community and around the world.

When we talk about justice, we are joining a conversation that God himself began. As a church, we continually strive to be about the things that God is about, which is what led us to hosting our speaker series, In Justice. Over the course of four weeks, our congregation engaged in meaningful conversations around the social justice topics of poverty, human trafficking, racial reconciliation, and refugees.

Throughout the Scriptures, there is no explanation of justice without an invitation to do justly. This speaker series provided not only an opportunity for us to become more knowledgeable on these subjects, but to let them resonate deeply enough that we would be moved to action.

A SPEAKER SERIES

If you missed In Justice: A Speaker Series, or would like to experience any of the weeks again, you can find all four weeks at: summitconnect.org/injustice.

SU M MIT

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SUMMIT VALUE

Making the most of our place in history.

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Service Times: Thursdays, 7 p.m.

Sundays, 9 a.m.*, 11 a.m., & 6 p.m. (*ASL interpreters available)

Service Times: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 11 a.m.

Service Times: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 11 a.m.

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Summit at 33rd Street Jail (These services are for the Horizon Wing & Female Detention Center inmates at the Orange County Jail.)

Women’s Service Time: Sundays, 1:30 p.m.

Men’s Service Time: Sundays, 1:30 p.m.

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